Together we run
by Thynerdgurl
Summary: Penny Hedge is chosen in the reaping for the 99th annual hunger games. Her mentor is her Ex-lover Nickel Avot. She hates him for leaving her, but what doesn't she know? please read!
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_We just keep run, run, run, run, running on_

_On our own_

_We just keep run, run, run, run, running on_

_Until your soul falls to the ground_

_We'll go against all we believed in once_

_They'll keep on come, come, come, come, coming for us_

_Until we fall_

_At least I'll have you_

_To fall with_

An old song from our home played in my head as we dashed through the forested land. He looked at me; his eyes were full of worry and doubt. The birds fell silent as we raced against the ticking clock of our own death. I could just see myself as an avox; my thoughts were ripped away from me as branches split open fresh wounds all over my face. We didn't have time to slow down, we couldn't. So we just kept running until the ground fell from under our feet we were trapped, death may have won this time.

"Nickel!" I screamed for him and held out my hand for him, he grabbed for it. But it was too late.

**An: I need to know if people actually have a desire to read this, if not then I'll make it an original story instead of a fanfiction.**


	2. Reaping day

**Reaping Day**

We listened to Cremai making her speech about the capitols power, she had already introduced us to the 99th annual hunger games. I drowned out her voice, my eyes straying to Nickel Avot. He was sitting on stage, next to the mayor, his head was in his hands and he looked frustrated. I hadn't seen him in months, I missed him for the first few, and then I got used to the idea he wasn't coming back. I was nothing to him anymore; anything we had before he became a victor was gone, in my mind at least. Cremai stuck her hand into the glass bowl for girls dramatically, two more years of this and I was done. Nickel lifted his head, his eyes caught mine, one glare from me and he was back to his original position.

"Penny Hedge." Cremai called out enthusiastically. Nickels head shot up and his eyes filled with tears, he was now going to have to train me to die in some stupid arena. I took my walk up to the stage, head held high and face wiped of emotion. I gave Nickel one stone cold look before walking to my spot. "Now for the boy!" she continues. "Olin Palka". His face flushes of color and he starts to shake. He wobbles up to the stage and we shake hands.

**. . .**

I was sitting inside the justice building, in my own little waiting room; I'd been in this exact one before. When Nickel was sent to the hunger games he had waited in this room. The door busts open and a sobbing Nickel crashes in.

"Penny! I'm so sorry." He cries, I don't say anything. I've grown to hate this boy, he left me for the Capitol, he was all I had left and he ditched me for a string of Capitol women. He looked at me; his eyes were full of sorrow. I just looked down at the kneeling boy in disgust. "I don't expect you to ever forgive me."

"Good, because I won't." I hissed at him. A single tear rolled down his cheek while the peacekeepers hauled him away. I couldn't believe I had ever loved that boy. His brown eyes had once seemed like home, and his dirty blonde hair used to be something I couldn't resist the urge to touch, his lips used to form a welcoming grin. Now all I saw when I looked at him was the boy who tore my life apart, the boy who ran from me when I needed him the most. I hated this boy and it was apparent I'd have to build up my walls to keep him out.

**. . .**

Olin was wringing his hands and looking out the window of the train nervously.

"It will take about a day to get from district three to the capitol." Cremai said, licking up the last of the alcohol in the bottle she was holding. I'd never seen this side of her, but it annoyed me less than her cheery self. I sat in a lone chair glaring out the window. Nickel was panicking on the couch breaking down and sobbing. "Oh suck it up dream boy." She snapped at him. Nickel was a catch in the Capitol, all the women loved him, that's who he ditched me for.

"So, what do we do?" Olin asked Nickel. I expected Nickel to just continue his pathetic self pity party, but he sat up and composed himself. "We need to know how to stay alive in the arena. You can help us…right?" now it was Olin's turn to start panicking. I put a reassuring hand on his arm. Olin was only fourteen; I was two years older than him so I'd had more experience with how hunger games worked.

"Yeah, I can help you." He folded his hands together and over his lap then glanced at me and aimed his next statement at his past lover. "If you'll let me." I couldn't help but rolling my eyes as I shifted my body away from him under his intense gaze. I sighed; annoyed that he would have the nerve. "Look, Penny, I know you're not fond of me" I cut him off with my angry words.

"Not fond of you?" I ask, angered. "Not FOND of you?" I stood up now, I was practically screaming. "AFTER MY PARENTS DIED AND MY SISTER WAS REAPED YOU WERE ALL I HAD LEFT, AND YOU PRANCED OFF TO THE CAPITOL AND LEFT ME! ALL ALONE! YOU EXPECT ME NOT TO BE 'FOND' OF YOU? I HATE YOU WITH THE FIREY BURNING OF HELL NICKEL!" I shouted, grabbing his shirt collar and snarling in his face. He didn't look surprised. He looked down while I shoved him back on the couch and sat back down while Cremai laughed her purple wig off. My glare returned to the window as Olin and Nickel discussed survival tactics. I already had mine; kill everyone and show no mercy. I may be a small girl from district three but I can pack a punch.

The rest of the day sped by with Olin and Nickel getting to business while I tuned out. "Alright kiddo's!" Cremai said as night fell "Get to bed." She showed us to our rooms. Nickel lingered in front of my door while I looked around it.

"Penny…"He started; I shot daggers at him through my eyes. "I'm sorry I left you. You just don't know how much I wanted to stay with you, but they wouldn't let me." He sat down on the end of the bed and buried his face in his hands again. I stood above him, arms crossed, and gaze cold.

"Who is 'they'?" I growled "The women who can give you oh-so-much more than I can." He shook his head and gave out a little whimper.

"I can't tell you." He said quietly. "All I know is that I have to get you out of that arena." My gaze softened for a moment, until I realized who he was and my glare returned.

I started tapping my foot and he looked up at me apologetically. "Just get out." I said flatly, he sadly obliged and sauntered out of the room. I closed the door and changed out of the soft green dress I was wearing for the reaping. I climbed into bed with just a shirt on. My dreams were invaded by memories of Nickel and I, back from when he was just Nickel Avot. _My_ Nickel Avot, not Capitol Nickel Avot.

"_Penny, I love you" I leaned into his chest as he whispered in my ear._

"_I love you too Nickel." He smiled a warm smile and held me closer._

_The smell of roses and blood assaulted my nose, the arm that cradled my waist now held me in a choke hold._

"_Hello my pretty." Snow's voice hissed in my ear._

"_Where's Nickel?" I screamed at him, but his hold on my neck only tightened. "NICKEL" I yelled for him many times, each time my airways closed further. Eventually everything turned black._

I woke up screaming. Sweat beaded on my brow, I glanced over at the clock, 3:00 am. I still had hours before I had to be up, it's not like I cared. Putting on a pair of pajama pants I snuck out of my room and stood on the end, balcony of the train. I felt the wind whipping my hair around, the fresh air tickled my nose, and I felt free.

"Hey Pen, couldn't sleep." I ignored the boy's voice from behind me, my grip tightened on the rail as I closed my eyes to enjoy this experience to the fullest extent. He came up next to me, his hand dangerously close to mine. I glanced at him; his shaggy hair was flowing all around. "I heard you screaming…another nightmare?" I gave him a sigh in return. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the air with me. Inside I was building up my walls, thicker and higher, because some how he always found his way in.

**. . .**

"Alright! Butts' out of bed." Cremai called through the door "NOW." Off-screen, she was a horrible, vile person. I drug myself out of bed and put on a blue blouse with tight black pants. I walked down the hall to find a wondrous Capitol feast. Olin happily dug in as soon as I sat down. An avox boy with black hair and grey eyes served me some food; I seem to remember people from district twelve looking like that.

Cremai yelled at another avox –a young girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes – for pouring the wrong kind of tea. "Where's Nickel?" Olin asked with a full mouth. As if on cue Nickel walked through the door. He smiled at Olin and me, Olin replied with a nervous smile while I glared at him.

"Alright, let's see what we have to work with shall we?" Nickel walked around us, prodding muscles and such. His fingers lingered on my shoulder but pulled away before I could. "For a fourteen year-old you're pretty buff." He told Olin, he said nothing about me before sitting down to talk about strategies. "Now, what tactics have you been thinking about?" he asks us.

"Well I was thinking I could team up with the careers." Olin said hopefully. Nickel just shook his head in disagreement. He looked at me expectantly.

"Kill all and show no mercy." I mumbled with a quick glare at Nickel. Olin gulped and went back to eating his food. The rest of the ride was quiet.

**. . .**

Finally we arrived in the Capitol. I met up with my designer, Loka, she was a thin woman with a chiseled jaw. Loka's skin was a light pink and her hair hung around her face in bright orange curls. My prep-team stripped me off all hair on my body and plucked and pulled until everything was perfect. Loka paraded around me, occasionally clapping her hands together and sighing. "I think I have an idea." She finally said.

**An: This chapter is pretty much a test to see if people will actually read this, i may continue if there isn't much of a response but it would make my feel better if i knew people were actually reading this.**


	3. Capitol games

**Capitol games**

Loka tied my light brown hair up into a simple bun. My outfit was spewing fireworks, everywhere I looked on my colorful dress, new pops of color exploded. I was amazing, I resisted the urge to smile but I gave her a look that meant I appreciated it. Olin's suit did the same thing; it lit up his blue eyes.

We were standing around, waiting for the opening ceremony to begin. "Penny! You look gorgeous." Nickel said with a smirk. I gave him a look of disgust. I could slowly feel my defenses cracking, I promised myself I wouldn't break down until I was in the privacy of my own room. "Come on Pen! You know you can't stay mad at such a beautiful boy for long." He was looking at me the way he used to, before he was thrown in the arena.

"He's right, he is beautiful." A girl tribute said behind me, I didn't bother to turn around to see which one. Nickel was posing seductively and all the girls were swooning…except me, I kept my glare on him.

"Lighten up Pen, it's a joke." He laughed "You'll do great out there." I'm sure I would.

There was hardly any time before it was our turn; nonetheless it came all too soon. My dress and Olin's suit were popping all over the place. Ever since the whole "Girl on fire" game – where she died and her miserable boyfriend victor committed suicide – people were wearing light up outfits almost every year, mainly three and twelve.

A fake smile was plastered on my face as we rode along, I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. I lifted up my arm to wave at the crowd. I could see the president's mansion as we neared the city center. Here they were, living in luxury while others starve across the nation, it sickened me.

**. . .**

We rode up the elevator, a short ride; we stopped at floor three and entered a luxurious flat. Cremai showed us to our rooms. I stripped of my uncomfortable dress and got in the shower. I'd never been more confused in my life at all the buttons, I pressed some and prayed it'd be alright. I got out of the bathroom with pajamas on; I brushed my hair until it naturally dried. Then I let the last few days catch up with me.

Tears started streaming down my face as I recalled the horrible reaping my older sister took part in. She died in the same games Nickel won. My parents died of heartbreak, and thus I was all alone, except for Nickel. He just up and left one day and the next time I saw him was two days ago. I silently weep into my pillow as I cry for my dead family and lost love. The last time I had ever smiled or laughed was with Nickel, he was my life. After he left, I vowed never to let anyone else wedge their way into my heart. I created a girl with a stone heart, a love for no one and nothing. I'd fallen so far into my act I stopped feeling most emotions about a month ago.

I hear Cremai calling us to watch the re-caps; I rub the tears away and enter the living room. Nickel is looking at me with sympathy in his look; my eyes must be red and puffy. We watch as the chariots pull out and parade around, I size up the competition of the careers. They don't look too bad. There are a few people I pay attention to. The girl from district ten, Morgan Tresean, she seems like she'd be a good ally. She reminds me of my sister, she has slightly darker brown hair than I do and blue eyes. Her outfit is horrible though, I can't help but feel bad for her, and she's dressed up like a cow. Nickel sees me cringe at her outfit and laughs "You know, she's the one who agrees…she likes my stuff." He says leaning back on the couch. She can't help it, he is pretty handsome. _GAH! NO!_ This happens every time he's around, I regain my feeling and am drawn towards him. "You know you're jealous." He says with a smirk, I just glare at him while we watch the rest.

As soon as the re-caps end I go to my room, without dinner. I sink into the bed and silently cry myself to sleep. The realization sunk in right before my eyelids fell, _I'm going to die._

**An: okay, I had to end it there because I have plans for what come next that would work better at the start of a chapter, and if you like (THAT MEANS DOOOO IT!) you may submit me a character for a tribute, the ones I don't get I'll just use a THG name generator to create them. So yes, your character could be in this story SUBMIT!**


	4. Trained to kill

**Trained to kill**

"_Penny, we love you." My parents cooed as they held Janni and I close._

_All of the sudden peacekeepers rushed in and grabbed them I was screaming and thrashing at the peacekeepers, but Janni held me back._

"_Janni! Let go of me! I have to help them." She just smiled and looked down at me._

"_We're going to be okay." She whispered as tears started to roll down her cheeks. We stood hugging for a bit, but then a voice came out of nowhere._

"_Janni Hedge." All of the sudden we were in the town center, Janni was being reaped. I screamed for her and I even broke down crying. She stood on the stage and just looked at me; Snow appeared behind her and put a hand on her shoulder._

"_JANNI!" I screamed with all my might. But a sword came down onto the center of her head and she died…again, a cannon went off and Snow started laughing._

"_Penny!" Snow was calling for me, the world was turning black and I was falling._

"Penny!" I was shaken awake by a stressed out Nickel. My crying continued and he pulled me into his chest. I could fight him off later; right now I was too alone to hate him. "Penny, what happened?" he asked as I sobbed into his shirt.

"They took them away! And they reaped her!" I managed in between sobs. He knew what I meant.

"shhhh." He was trying to comfort me "It's okay, you're okay." I couldn't believe what he was saying! I'm not okay! I'm about to come to the same horrible fate as my sister! Poor Janni, her boyfriend and I cried for days when she died.

"No! I'm not okay!" I was angry with him again. "You could have at least teamed up with her!" I was shouting at him now. "You could have at least stayed with me!" he gave me a pained look and I started beating my fists on his chest, yelling at him for everything he didn't do.

**. . .**

I could hear people talking in the dining room as I walked through the hall. I wasn't in the mood to have any interaction with Nickel. Last night he had tried to calm me down, put I kept putting the blame on him. I ended up revealing everything about how he created my stone heart by leaving when I needed him to be with me.

"Good morning Penny." Said Olin, he was way to cheery considering the situation we were in "We were just discussing allies." He said as he went back to talking about how to get into the career group. Nickel didn't look at me, which I was grateful for. I sat down and filled my plate with Capitol dishes.

"Morgan looks promising." I muttered. They looked at me in surprise. "Maybe the girl from twelve too." I added before shoving a pastry in my mouth.

"Okay…erm, before you decide just know that Morgan isn't the smartest, and Lily is only twelve!" Nickel protests.

I decide to annoy him by honestly naming those I'd like to team with. "I want Morgan, Lily, Coral, Vivek and Kyler." I smile as they all look at me like I'm crazy.

"Penny! For god's sake!" Nickel seems more upset than annoyed. "Lily and Coral are bound to die in the bloodbath, the twelve year-olds always do! Vivek is thirteen and Kyler is fourteen! They won't last a day!" Olin glares at Nickel for saying a fourteen year-old can't survive.

"So I know they won't kill me, and Morgan reminds me of Janni." I state. At the mention of Janni he goes quiet. He mumbles about how training starts today and we finish our breakfast in silence.

**. . .**

In the training center I throw knives and chop up dummies with swords. I turn around to see Morgan clapping.

"Well, I see you're handy with those." She smiles. "My mentor says you made a request to be allies?" she holds out her hand for me to shake it, she has a bit of a southern accent. I shake her hand and her smile widens. "So, who else? I was thinking the little girls." She says, nodding over to where Lily, Coral, Kyler and Vivek are tying knots.

"You and I think alike." I put up as best a smile as I can while we walk over to them. "Hey girls." They turn around and you can visibly notice they're scared of us. "Morgan and I were wondering if you'd all like to be allies with us?" their faces ease as they realize what we're offering. They all agree and we all travel to different stations together.

Morgan teaches us about food, Coral, Kyler and Lily don't have much to offer but Vivek talks to us about weapons. I teach them all I can about everything I know. Morgan and Vivek prove best though.

I can see Olin trying to get with the careers; Echo – the girl from two – seems to really hate him, while the others just seem mildly annoyed.

At lunch we all sit at a table and talk about our districts. I find that Lily ended up having to take out a ton of tessera because of her huge family. Lily spoke about people dying on the streets of twelve. Vivek spoke of how life is in district five and how things keep exploding on accident. Kyler had nothing to say other than the fashions that they make in district eight, she happened to be big on girly things. Coral told us about cars and vehicles that hover in the air, and others that fly. Morgan started to ramble about life on the animal farms in ten. We learned that Morgan had a twelve year old sister named May-reed but they all call her May. Morgan was a real chatter-box when it came to it.

The girl from eleven came over and asked if she could sit with us, Bermuda was only fourteen so we let her sit. She ended up joining our alliance. We had an all girl group going here. Morgan and I being the older girls – even though she's a year younger than me – acted as leaders.

After lunch we trained the younger girls in throwing knives and slashing dummies with swords. Vivek ended up cracking a sword down right on the center of a dummies head; I just stood there staring at her. I shook my head and let it go. As the day went on I realized that I couldn't kill any of these girls, they were growing on me.

**. . .**

"Alright Pen you got your precious allies." Nickel was visibly annoyed with me as we ate dinner. "Olin, you got yours?" I laughed at this. Olin was completely kicked out of the career group.

"No, they hated me…maybe I could join with Penny's group?" he looked at me; I almost choked on my chicken as he said this.

"HA!" Nickel starts laughing loudly "You'd die within a day!" he's really starting to bug me now. I scowl at him and his laughing sops abruptly. "Look Pen, I'm sure your plan is good, like killing them while they sleep or something." I made an offended noise; he really thought I was heartless.

It was going to be a long few weeks if Nickel was going to have this attitude.

**(An: Morgan is completely based off of me, just FYI. Same name, but my THG name generator gave me that name so I just had to! But yeah, please review, fav and add to alerts!)**


	5. Author note: Tributes characters

**Just an FYI**

**Female tribute - age - strength - weakness**

**Male tribute - age - strength - weakness**

**Tributes**

District 1:

Inxy Radley – 17 – 20/20 vision – Ditzy, bad coordination

Hawkins Aragon – 18 – good with weapons – slow runner

District 2:

Echo Nightshade – 16 – good senses – gullible

Alder Puckett – 17 – good in hand-to-hand – low blood sugar

District 3:

Penny Hedge – 16 – lethal, not sensitive – sneak attacks, Nickel

Olin Palka – 14 – Strong and skillful – sensitive

District 4:

Caspia Glade – 18 – good with weapons – clumsy

Camas Crowe – 14 – always ahead of the game – sensitive to sun

District 5:

Vivek Snapdragon – 13 – good hearing – scared and paranoid

Caspian Quinn – 17 – likable – gentle

District 6:

Coral Winkopp – 12 – good direction – gullible

Orenthal Lilium – 16 – good direction - gentle

District 7:

Graven Frolost – 18 – fast runner – over confident

Thoren Nealy – 14 – smart – sensitive to sun

District 8:

Kyler Speare – 14 – fast runner - gullible

Jericho Henbane – 13 – good hearing – bad coordination

District 9:

Yoltra Rarven – 15 – small – large imagination

Dagwood Zimmersteat – 16 – smart – always hungry

District 10:

Morgan Tresean – 15 – likable – kind of ditzy and low pain threshold

Bracken Justice – 18 – good sense of direction – Sensitive

District 11:

Bermuda Buttercress – 14 – fast runner - vegetarian

Thistle Northcliff – 17 – loyal connections – distracted easily

District 12:

Lily Hawthorne – 12 – Protective, smart – gentle and sensitive

Finch Holcomb – 17 – trust worthy – too trusting


	6. Allies and Enemies

**Allies and Enemies**

Morgan proved herself handy with a sword, we tried bow and arrow but she just punched herself in the face…yeah. Lily and Coral have been training in throwing knives. Vivek, Kyler and Bermuda have taken to the spears. I've found myself liking the axes.

"Hey, you children mind stepping aside." I heard Inxy and Echo say from behind us, they were the girls from district one and two. Their male counterparts were behind them and the district four tributes were even further behind.

"Y'all better run along." Morgan came up from behind me; she was talking to both the younger girls and the careers in front of us. Vivek, Bermuda, Lily and Coral all left the weapon station to learn how to build fires.

"Wow, you and your gaggle of girls look _really_ ready to take us." Echo took a step closer to us, putting sarcastic emphasis on 'really'.

"Well if ya must know, we are. I'd take on y'all any day, so back on down." Morgan was really getting in Echo's face. Her accent really didn't help her sound menacing so I just glared at them. "We don't want no one gettin' hurt. So I say y'all wait for yur turn."

"Look! Little southern belle thinks she can handle us, and her mute friend too." Inxy scoffed, Echo nods at her and Inxy drags Olin over. "Well, Olin will be joining us, just so y'all know." She was mocking Morgan by saying 'y'all', that didn't go over too well, it turns out that Morgan has quite a temper. Olin just looked up at the seventeen-year-old.

"Just know that you'll be the first person I target." I hiss at her. She looks a bit taken aback by the fact that I just spoke to her. The shock soon faded and she smirked.

"Not if we kill you first." Echo snarls, it looked mainly directed at Morgan. They walked off, Olin followed like a little puppy.

I turn to Morgan and she looks like she's thinking the same thing I am. "We need every one on our side to buddy- up. That way no one is helpless." I point out while we join the other girls. We tell them about our plan and we buddy up, Lily and Coral then Kyler, Bermuda and Vivek. So that leaves Morgan and I to team up, which is good, I really feel like I can be good friends with her.

**. . .**

"What happens if they die? Penny, I don't think I can see those faces up on them skies." Morgan said to me as we ate, we were out of ear-shot. "I mean, I know them older girls might make it a while but what happens if they run into that blood-bath?" Morgan seemed to be really flipping out about this.

"They won't, I will." Her eyes widen as I say this. "I'll get enough supplies for all of us while you heard them away from the cornucopia." Her face is still pale and her light blue eyes are still wide.

"But yuh could die." She looked really worried. "And I don't think I could be responsible fur all them girls." Her brown hair keeps falling in her face as she freaks out.

I grab her shoulders. "You just need to get them to safety; I'll find you and have supplies." I reassure her. She still seems wary so we go back to the girls and finish the plan.

So the plan is that all the younger girls run to Morgan, and grab anything they can without putting themselves in danger and then they escape to wherever is safe – seeing as we don't know the arena yet – while I grab supplies. I'll try to take out a few people while I'm at it. We all agree that to make sure it doesn't come down to us turning on each other; we'll spit into our buddy systems when there are a few people other than us left. Lily and Coral were hesitant on his, and who can blame them?

**. . .**

"So, how're your alliances going?" Nickel asks while we eat dinner. Days of training had passed and we were going into the interviews in a few days. Olin had created a plan B, if the careers turned on him he'd team up with Thoren and Jericho – the boys from seven and eight – he'd been working on this for a few days. My only plan was to team with Morgan, Kyler, Bermuda, Vivek, Coral and Lily.

Nickel still didn't like who I was teaming up with but seeing as it meant he could party with more mentors, he didn't stop me.

"Why are you so interested in these girls?" he finally asks after he can't take it any longer "You could get much, much stronger allies."I know he was only pissed that I'd have a heart.

"They're helpless and they need help." I hissed back at him. "If you were anything like Morgan and I, you'd know that having a heart and helping those who can't help themselves matter." That last part was completely directed at the one thing I'd never get over; him leaving. He shuts up.

**. . .**

"Come on girly, let's get you prettied up." My prep team was standing over me. I grumbled and sat up as they brushed my hair and started plucking me like a bird again.

They ended up curling my straight hair and hanging it around my face while draping my bangs just out of my eyes. The dress Loka had my wear was an almost white yellow. It was tight and clung especially tight to my breasts and butt.

"Alright, we'll be playing the sexy angle." Nickel was telling me how to act; I looked at him in disbelief.

"I don't have sex appeal! I have pent up hatred!" I say, freaking out.

He takes a few steps towards me, I can smell his minty breath and his face is inches from mine. "Make them see the sexy Penny that I see." He whispers, sending chills down my back, I tried my best not to react.

"What if they don't buy it?" I whisper back. If I didn't have an angle I was screwed.

He leaned in closer; our noses were brushing against each others. I thanks god that Olin and Cremai weren't here. His lips were literally almost on mine.

"Make them." He barely breathed the words. I found my eyes wanting to close, I tried not to but they did.

Nickel leaned in the almost non-existent distance, the gap closed and our lips were pushed together. A flood of memories came crashing through my mind, memories of us kissing.

I didn't care what grudge I had against him, all was forgiven at the moment. I let my body take over. My arms wrapped around his neck, and his around my waist. He pulled me closer and the kiss deepened. I found my fingers entwining in his shaggy golden hair, I was pushed against the wall.

Someone at the end of the hall cleared their throat. It was Cremai, she was smirking at us. I pull away from Nickel and walk to the elevator.

"Don't think that means you're forgiven." I say to him, he laughs in return.

We enter the waiting room. The private meetings were the day before, I had gotten a nine for killing a few dummies with axes, and Morgan got an eight. The smaller girls got anything in the range of five to seven. Olin had gotten a ten but he wouldn't tell me how.

Morgan was obviously playing the cutesy angle, her dress was a light pink and it didn't cling to her every curve, she gave me a crooked smile and walked up to Olin and I.

"Hey guys, y'all ready?" she asks. "'cause gee, I sure am nervous about this here interview." She looks over to Olin to say hi, but he's staring off into the distance, she follows his gaze. "I see you got the hots fur my girl Kyler." She smiles at him and he blushes.

"No, I just think she's pretty." Morgan slings her arm over his shoulder and they walk away talking about Kyler.

"So, this is the gorgeous Penny. It's nice to finally get to talk to you without the girls hovering." I turn around to see Hawkins and Alder – the boys from one and two – standing there. Hawkins lightly touches the strap of my dress. "The attire suits you…splendidly." He says with a creepy smile.

"You are such a pretty little thing." Alder buts in. He also has a creepy smile plastered on that smug face of his. I glare at them both and cross my arms.

A pretty little thing that wouldn't hesitate to kick your ass." I snarl back. Their smiles only faltered for a second before widening. Hawkins takes a step closer to me, the eighteen-year- old was much taller than me. He was looking down on me, smirking.

"It'd be a shame for such a pretty thing to go to waste." he says through is grin, then he bends down to whisper in my ear. "I'll tell you what, tonight, you come down to my room and we…"

He was cut off by a very angry Nickel "And you'll have me to deal with." Nickel stepped in between Hawkins and me, even though Hawkins was a bit taller than Nickel, he still seemed intimidated. "And I don't play nice, so back off." Nickel was gritting his teeth and his knuckles where white from holding such tight fists.

"Inxy Radley from district one!" Caesar said from the stage, the interviews were beginning. We all took our seats and waited.

"Penny Hedge from district three." The voice finally called. I strutted up on stage, making sure to act as sexy as possible, considering I'm Penny. I sat on the chair across from Caesar and flipped my hair; I tried to give the best smile I could. "So Penny, I think we were all shocked when you were reaped this year." I gave a little giggle.

"Oh Caesar you have no idea the shock that was going through my mind, I totally didn't expect it." I put as much drama into my facial expressions as possible.

"Well and seeing as last year the tributes were your friend and sister." He looks at me with Capitol sympathy – fake – and then smiles.

_Boyfriend_ I mentally correct him "It was crushing! Thinking I'd never see at least one of them." I put my hand to my chest and pretended to choke back tears. I got many sympathetic Aww's from the audience.

"How happy were you when Nickel came out of that arena?" This question I could answer in all honesty.

"Honestly? It was the happiest day of my life." I gush, he looks at me knowingly.

He pretends to whisper but it's obvious that the crowd was supposed to hear it "So, we'd all like to know, is there anything going on between you two?" he half tells, half asks. I open my mouth to talk but he continues. "No need denying it, we have footage from the halls." he winks at me then the tape rolls of Nickel and I talking then kissing. My cheeks turn a bright red as I blush.

"I had forgotten how much I love him when he went to the Capitol." I was speaking full honesty now "Then when we started spending time together, I realized how much I missed him, and how I can't live without him." Caesar just looks at me sympathetically.

"Well, this wouldn't be our first Mentor and tribute relationship." I look at him in surprise. "The two mentors from four were in love too." Annie and Finnick I think their names were, the mad girl from four and the boy with the trident. "I think it's the exact same situation," he turns to the crowd and winks "If you know what I mean." The crowd laughs…no, I don't know what he means…

Olin's interview consisted of him making jokes with Caesar. Then he admitted that he liked a girl from back home, Caesar asked who and he named a girl from his grade. "Peyton Solidaster" he called her out and every one Aww'd. Peyton was a girl who was from the really poor part of town; I'd seen her a few times before. She was a small girl who barely made it by, she was a bit clumsy though, and I'd seen her fall on her face while walking to school multiple times. I'd never expected Olin to like her, yet it seemed like he liked Kyler. Boys were confusing.

Vivek's interview went well, I have to say I'm jealous of her last name (Snapdragon). She explained how much fun she thought the Capitol was, I knew that was a lie.

During Coral's interview she almost broke down crying, I wanted to run up to the stage and hug her, but I couldn't.

Kyler was very charming in hers, you could tell she took the charming angle and played it for all it was worth. It worked too. If we were likable, that just meant more sponsors.

Morgan sat down for her interview and she looked like an innocent little girl, she looked like she was way younger than fifteen, but I knew that was just the make-up and angle.

"So Morgan, have you seen any alliances going" Caesar asked her.

"Yes sir I have." She states "The careers, but that wusn't unexpected. And then I got an alliance going with some uh the other girls." She looks really bubbly and happy as she says this.

"Oh? And who?" Caesar asks her, a bit surprised that she'd admit to having formed an alliance.

"Miss Penny Hedge." She's counting on her fingers, Caesar looks surprised that she teamed up with me. "Vivek Snapdragon, Coral Winkopp, Kyler Speare, Bermuda Buttercress and Lily Dogwood sir." The capacity of names looks like it's overwhelming him.

"Well, that's quite a crew." He composes himself. "And you're quite confident about this team."

"Mhm sir! I truth them girls with mah life." She jokes. "And that statement there ain't metaphorical." The crowd laughs.

Bermuda hoped on stage and you could tell she didn't have an angle, I hoped we had enough sponsors to help her too.

Lily played up the innocent act as well as she could. I have to say, it worked wonders.

**. . .**

"Did you mean it Pen?" Nickel asks me after we had watched the re-caps. He sounds sad but you can easily sense the hope he has put into the answer of the question.

"Mean what?"I ask him. I don't know whether he means liking the Capitol or what I said about him.

"What you said…about your feelings…about me." I was glad he asked me this question when everyone left to go to bed, we were still on the couch in front of the TV, but it was off. I didn't trust my voice so I just nodded. He pulled me into his chest and wrapped his arms around me. "I love you Penny." It was all I had ever wanted from him, for him to be there…mine.

"I love you too Nickel." I said into his shirt. That night, neither of us went to bed, we lie on the couch and fell asleep holding each other.

That night I let go of him leaving me, as long as he was mine now I was happy. But tomorrow this all would end and I'd be cast to my death. At least I would die with Nickel knowing I loved him back.

**An: Longest chapter so far WHOO! Lol yeah so I'd like to clarify that ever part of Morgan is based on me EXCEPT the accent, that's not me. And yeah…please Fav, Alert and Review! It'd mean the world to me and I'll have my Imaginary friend Peeta bake you cookiez!**


	7. Let the games begin

**Let the games begin**

"30 seconds." A monotonic voice called from over head. The uniforms they issued were basic black outfits, the pants were a bit tight for my taste. I was ready.

"Now Penny, you run from that bloodbath, you don't go anywhere near it…do you hear me?" Nickel was freaking out more than I was which was weird. I really didn't want to lie to him so I didn't say I wouldn't.

I pulled him into a tight embrace. "I love you Nickel." I told him. His eyes were watering and his eyes were filled with pain.

"I love you too Penny…Come back to me?" It was more of a plea than a request but I couldn't let him down, not when he was in this state.

"Only if you come back to me." It was a failed attempt at bing playful, it just made things worse.

"I will Pen…I will." And with that I walked into the glass tube that would ultimately lead me to my demise. I pressed my hand up to the glass once the doors shut; Nickel put his hand over mine. There was always something that would keep us apart. I slowly moved up and my Nickel faded from me.

I took a look at my surroundings. I saw Echo to my left and Morgan to my right. Morgan's face showed the exact amount of panic I felt inside as we looked across the landscape. I was hoping for decent…I guess not. We were standing in what looked like a dried up ravine, there were walls of sandstone jutting out everywhere you look. Inside the walls were caves, caves you could easily guard. Knowing the Capitol there must be some kind of mutant bats residing in them.

There was a sword sticking out of the ground about five feet in front of Morgan, _well that was lucky _I thought. I saw Echo eyeing it, but Morgan was a fast runner, she could get to it before Echo, plus I could knock her down.

_Five_

My heart beat quickens as I observe the cornucopia, I know Morgan and at least some of the other girls will make it out in time…It's up to me to get them food and water.

_Four_

It's on me that these girls survive for as long as they can.

_Three_

I have nothing to lose.

_Two_

I decide to fall back on my original plan, just for the bloodbath.

_One_

Kill all and show no mercy.

The gong sounds and I sprint with all my might forward, knocking Echo to the ground. I keep running towards the cornucopia. Blood is being splattered everywhere. The first thing I grab is a sword as I pull it from the pile and swing it behind me, beheading the boy from four. His head falls to the ground and his body follows soon after. Out of my peripheral vision I see Morgan running into a cave, followed by all of the other girls, no one is chasing them. I hear a footstep from behind me and I turn around, ready to strike. It was Olin. He looks at me for help while I stab a kid running at me straight through the heart.

"How do you even…" he stammers as he looks at the few people I've run through with my sword.

"Kill all and show no mercy." I cut him off. He stares at me blankly before turning on his heels and running into a cave with the rest of the careers.

The cornucopia was all mine…I'd driven the careers away. I was estatic. I raised my sword in the air, pointing to the cave Morgan and the others had disappeared into. Morgan runs out, she's running toward me at full speed, she stops about ten feet away, she's smiling a mile wide.

"Yuh did it! We got the entire cornucopia!" She was jumping up and down.

"Yeah, now help me grab things, grab everything of use so we can take it back to the cave." I say, picking up a tub of food and water. She helps me carry things half way while Bermuda and Vivek carry them the rest of the way.

We've cleaned out the entire cornucopia and were headed to our cave; this was probably the only luck that would ever be in anyone's favor all piled into one event.

We sit on the cave floor as we pick apart the tubs of supplies. Lily stares in wonder. "We won't ever need sponsors!" she squeals in delight. I was happy to have helped these girls.

The cannons started going off, Morgan counted.

"Nine…ten…" she looks at us, her face is grim. "Ten tributes are dead." She sits back down with us…there were only fourteen people left.

Me, Morgan, Vivek, Bermuda, Kyler, Coral and Lily…we took up seven of the fourteen places. That left both from one, both from two, one from four, Olin, us and one other person. We needed to start splitting up…this wasn't how I expected this to go.

As night fell, Morgan and I handed out Jackets and sleeping bags to the shivering girls. I took first watch; I'd never wake any of them up so I'd take all of the watch.

I heard someone stiff behind me as I sat in the entrance of the cave; I turn around to see Lily up. She comes to sit next to me and we start to talk.

"Wait…I thought poor people from district twelve had dark hair and grey eyes." I was confused, she had blonde hair and blue eyes yet she said she was from the seam.

"Yeah, My grand-mamma was a merchants daughter but she married a coal- miner…my mom looks like her mom and my aunt looked like their dad." I notice she talks in past tense when talking about her aunt.

"Is your aunt dead?" I ask, she nods.

"She died in the hunger games…she volunteered for my mom…" she looks up at me with a sad smile, tears forming in her eyes. "My aunt was Katniss Everdeen of the seventy- fourth hunger games." She says…this is 'girl on fire's niece. A burning fire of rage ignited in me. _They rigged her reaping, so that the Capitol could have a good show…THEY ARE MURDERING A TWELVE YEAR OLD BECAUSE OF HER DEAD AUNT!_ The fire never died down, even when Lily went back to bed. How could they be so sick?

The anthem played and I watched the skies as it showed the ten dead children…innocent children...dead. The final anthem played and my mind wandered. I thought about what they might do for the quarter quell next year. I thought about Nickel…I'd never see him again.

**. . .**

I watched as the sun rose, I'd been on guard all night, but I wasn't tired.

"Penny, why'd you not wake me up fur mah turn?" Morgan's voice came from behind me.

"I'm not tired, plus nothing happened." I tell her, not even bothering to turn around.

She sat down next to me "Did you see Bracken?" she asks, Bracken was the boy from district ten.

"No, he must be the one who isn't a career and isn't one of us." I didn't see him in the night sky, so he must still be alive. She lets out her breath.

"So, what now? Do we wait like sitting ducks…or do we go out and die?" that was probably the most pessimistic thing I've ever heard her say.

"I…don't know." I guess we could wait…or we could go meet our death by our own free will. One thing is for sure, we'd be driven out of here soon enough.

**An: I have MAJOR plot twists planned in my plot line. But yeah I hope you guys like! Please Fav Alert and Review! PEETA COOKIEZ! U KNO U WANT THEM!**


	8. A cannon's boom

**A cannon's boom**

Morgan and I hear a watery sound and almost silent pleas for help. I spin around to see Coral clutching her split open throat, her mouth and neck were covered in blood and you could see the pain in her eyes.

"Slitting throats while they sleep is the easiest way to win. Bermuda smiles a wicked smile, he knife is covered in blood. I glance over to see Morgan clutching her sword.

"I outta kill yuh! Yuh played us!" She yells. Bermuda just tilts her head, once someone has spilt another's blood; it's hard for them to stop. Coral stops moving and her cannon goes off. Bermuda makes her way over to the sleeping Lily. But she doesn't get there before Morgan's sword has been driven through her stomach. "We trusted yuh…" Morgan snarls as Bermuda's cannon fires. With that the others awake. The scene looks bad…Morgan with a bloody sword, Bermuda and Coral…dead. Lily starts screaming at Morgan.

"No! Calm down guys! Bermuda killed Coral so Morgan Killed Bermuda." They ease, but only a bit. Morgan sits in a ball in the corner. Twelve tributes left…an innocent little girl…dead. "We should move…can't sit in a cave with dead bodies." I lead everyone to another cave as the hover crafts come for the girls.

We're sitting, eating when another cannon goes off. "Bracken!" Morgan jumps up and runs to the entrance. She's crying…_Why does she care so much?_ They can't be in love…he's eighteen and she's fifteen.

"What's your connection with him?" I ask "Plus we won't know it's him until nighttime." Morgan sits next to me, still crying.

"He's like a brother tuh me…a loving big brother." Her voice cracks and she sobs into my shoulder while I awkwardly comfort the girl.

**. . .**

We're sitting in the cave, its mid day when a low rumble comes from the back of the cave. Morgan grabs my arm and looks up in panic.

A cannon goes off and we look around. Vivek's mouth fills with blood and she falls on her face. Kyler is screaming and her and Lily are backing away from the body, it's disintegrating into a pile of spiders that are crawling towards us. "RUN!" I scream, we all grab our packs and sprint out of the cave.

"You'd think that was enough deaths for one day." Kyler pants. Lily limps over, crying. I run to her to see what's wrong.

"I…I tripped…I think it's broken!" tears were streaming down her face as she clutched her leg. It was twisted at an unnatural angle…it was definitely broken.

"Who can carry her?" I ask, Kyler and Morgan aren't strong enough so I don't wait for an answer; I pick her up and continue walking. We don't dare stay in a cave again; we camp out in a clump of dead trees. "I got first watch." Morgan eyes me, knowing I won't wake them up. They slip into peaceful slumber.

I wake Morgan when the anthem plays. We watch as the first face flashes across the sky…Olin…he's dead…then we watch as Bermuda, Vivek and Coral's faces show up. "They didn't have a use fur him penny…It's not yur fault." She was reading my face; I blamed myself for not letting him ally with us…It _was_ my fault. "I don't let the deaths get tuh me…" Morgan continues, "because in the end uh the day…I'll be dead and them faces up on them skies can't haunt me in muh death." She seemed completely at peace with dying. But I knew that the faces of the people I killed would never haunt me…it'd be the faces of the ones I could have save that will seep into my dreams. "Go tuh sleep, I'll take tunights watch." I reluctantly lay down and closed my eyes.

**. . .**

I awoke to Morgan, leaning on the tree, asleep…and Kyler was gone. Lily was up though. "Lily…where's Kyler?" I asked, Lily was sharpening a stick with her knife.

"She left in the middle of the night…didn't want her throat to be slit while she slept." I knew Lily wasn't joking, I also knew the only reason she was still here was because of her leg, and we had wrapped it up until she couldn't move it.

**. . .**

We woke Morgan and continued walking, only one cannon was heard, no one said anything because we knew it was Kyler. The thought of Olin being betrayed by his allies sent shivers down my spine.

We had been walking for at least an hour when Morgan spoke up. "uh…Penny…" she sounded scared. I turned around to see Echo and her fierce grin; she held a knife to Morgan's throat. I didn't think twice before I did what I did, I put Lily down and chucked a knife at the two, it hit Echo in the center of her forehead.

"The boys…they're going to kill him." Were Echo's last words as Morgan whipped out her sword to check for Inxy. We knew she was talking about Bracken. The bushes moved and I let Morgan let out her rage on it. Inxy's head fell onto the ground and Lily shreaked.

"We got to go find him." Morgan said as Echo and Inxy's cannons shot. I picked up Lily and we made our way farther through the canyon.

"Morgan! Morgan!" We heard a boy's voice in the distance; he had the same southern accent as her.

"Bracken?" She shouted back.


	9. There can only be one

**There can only be one**

"Morgan!" A boy raced around the corner and picked her up, twirling her around. "I thought them cannons was you two." Tears were streaming down his face as he smiled at us.

This must be Bracken…to say the least…he was huge! He blocked out the sun and stood at about seven feet tall, he had the same dark burgundy hair as Morgan and the same light blue eyes. He was insanely muscular; no wonder he scored a ten in training. He looked like an over trained career, now I doubted Morgan's intelligence for not being his ally from the start; I also now under stood how he survived the blood bath!

"They said they was 'gunna come get you!" Morgan was crying too, Lily and I awkwardly stood at a distance from them. I cleared my throat and Bracken set Morgan down and turned to me.

"So…yur the Penny that was helpin' Morgan survive?" He asked, I nodded. He pulled me into a bone crushing bear hug while he thanked me over and over. "Nini thanks you as well." _Who's Nini?_ I wondered.

**. . .**

We set up camp when the sun was setting, splitting our food in four sections. Bracken surprisingly didn't eat a lot for someone of his size. He had caught at least a dozen eatable lizards – which weren't that bad – that he shared with us.

He also offered to take first watch; Morgan fell asleep with her head in his lap while he braided her hair into several tiny braids. They really were like brother and sister, it was hard to imagine them not being related. She looked at him as an idol and he looked at her as though he'd do anything to protect her. I thought of Janni and how she used to take care of me after the Capitol took our parents away. My eyes slid closed as I got some much-needed sleep.

**. . .**

"Penny, yur turn for watch." Bracken woke me, he had finished braiding the sleeping Morgan's hair and was anxiously twiddling his thumbs, I had noticed that his hands had to be busy when he wasn't walking or moving in some other way.

We sat for a few minutes before I broke the silence. "It's hard to believe you're not her brother, you two look alike and she looks at you as if you were." He chuckled.

"Nah, Nini is mah sister; she and Morgan are best friends. It's like having two little sisters." He looks down at her sadly. "You can imagine the pain when Morgan was drawn…it doubled after I was, poor Nini wouldn't stop crying." He sighed.

"You do a great job of being a brother…I wish my sister was still here." I say quietly.

"Janni Hedge…right?" I nod. "I remember her…she sure was a pretty one." He smiled a crooked smile, very similar to Morgan's. "I was shocked when she died…she was doing so well." He shook his head in sympathy.

"It would have been her last year in the reaping…" I hadn't noticed I was crying until now. "I'm still happy that Nickel won though, I couldn't have handled losing both of them." I show him a sad smile and he returns it.

"I know, that's why I'm 'gunna try tuh get her out…for Nini…" He looks at me like he said something wrong. "Well, I mean…"

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I cut him off with a smile. "I have nothing to go home to; I was only trying to keep myself alive so I could keep others alive, but if it comes down to me and an innocent child… I'd gladly get them out if it means my own death." He returned my smile and then went to sleep.

I really did have nothing to go home to. I would have a huge, empty house, a dead family and an absent love. My life was hollow.

I spent the rest of the night on guard.

**. . .**

It had been a few days since Inxy and Echo died, so we decided to go look for Hawkins and Alder. We walked around the canyon for what must have been hours without finding anything. Lily was getting tired, even though she wasn't even walking. It was hot out so we had downed a bottle of water each. _Wonderful that the uniforms are black _I silently cursed whoever's idea that was.

"Come to fight us…or to just die?" Hawkins came out from behind a corner, followed by a smirking Alder, both of them were carrying spears.

Morgan pulled out her sword; I put down Lily and grabbed an axe I'd stolen off of Echo after she died. Bracken had his spear out in no time. "We've come to kill you." I hissed at them while taking a defensive stance.

Alder snorted. "Likewise." His smirk never left his smug face.

"Well too bad yuh won't get to!" Morgan screamed as she ran at Alder with her sword in the air, he pulled out a bow and before I could register what had happened there was an arrow through Lily's heart and a sword through Alder's.

Bracken let out a surprised sound as he shoved Morgan out of the way and took the brunt of Hawkins throwing a spear. Lily and Alder's cannons went off. I joined the fight and managed to cut Hawkins's hamstring. He surprisingly sucked at running. He doubled over in pain and I stabbed him in the stomach as he lie on the ground.

Two cannons went off. Morgan's cries and pained screams echoed through the canyon. She refused to leave Bracken's body for an hour. She wept into his chest and refused to accept the fact that he was dead.

I finally managed to pull her away knowing that the game makers would blast us into oblivion if we didn't leave soon. We sat while she cried until she finally spoke. "Who will win?" she asked, her eyes were red and puffy.

"Well, you have a little sister…mom…dad…best friend, and I bet plenty of guys who'll like you." I playfully punched her shoulder. "You have an entire life ahead of you, no matter how tortured it may be…" she smiled sadly at me. "And I have…nothing."

"What're you talking about? You got the cutest guy since Finnick Odair! Nickel loves you!" she protested.

"Yeah, and I love him back...But he'll never really be mine…there's always something stopping us from being together, whether it's the Capitol women or my hatred. We'll never be together." I look down. "I know what we have to do."

I pulled out my knife and her eyes widened "Penny…what're you doing?" she cried in alarm.

"Morgan, we're the only two left, and I know for a fact you won't kill me…so…" I explained but she only looked more scared.

I didn't think twice about what I did next.

It's just like a quote Janni used to say.

_If you think without action, your voice is never heard._

_If you think and then act, you're too cautious for the real world._

_And if you act without thought, shit gets done!_

**(An: MUAHAHAHA! WONDEROUS CLIFF HANGER OF DOOM AND DEMISE! Lol! The next chapter will be in Nickel's POV. But yeah just an FYI, there will be a sequel!)**


	10. A loveless life

**A loveless life**

**-Nickel-**

It took Cremai a long time to get me to stop crying after Penny entered the arena. I'd been crying a lot ever since President Snow had…sold me, even more so since Penny was drawn in the reaping.

I had spent countless hours watching the TV, I rarely got any sleep. I found myself yelling at the screen, trying to communicate with her. After the bloodbath, there were sponsors lining up at the door. She had killed half of the ten people killed on the first day, more than the careers combined.

When Coral died I was yelling at her and Morgan to turn around. When Bermuda died I thanked god. When Vivek died I screamed for her to run. When Kyler died at the hand of Echo, I screamed at them to keep walking. I was there, watching the entire games. I watched as the money, fans and sponsors piled up.

I actually thought she could make it out alive.

I never expected what happened.

**. . .**

"They're fighting the careers!" Cremai screamed from the other room, I almost fell running into the common room. It was filled with screens, mentors and Capitolites. I sat down in my seat and watched as Hawkins and Alder taunted them. Morgan finally lost it and attacked, Penny was thrown out of balance as Lily was shot and Alder was run through with a sword. Bracken pushed Morgan out of the way as a spear hit him. Morgan cried over his corpse while Penny killed Hawkins. "Never knew she had it in her." Cremai scoffed as Penny comforted Morgan.

"They need to get out of there…" I hiss at the screen.

"Yeah, but if they fight your girl will win." The district ten mentor growled behind me.

We sat, for hours, watching them sit in uncomfortable silence when Morgan said something. "Who will win?" she asked, Penny's eyes glazed over as she thought.

Penny went into a speech about why Morgan should win. "Well, you have a little sister…mom…dad…best friend, and I bet plenty of guys who'll like you. You have an entire life ahead of you, no matter how tortured it maybe…And I have…nothing." She shrugged a bit before smiling at her.

_Nothing? NOTHING? So now I was nothing to her?_ It was my fault…I abandoned her…but it was so they didn't kill her.

Then Morgan complimented me by calling me 'the cutest guy since Finnick Odair'. An aging Finnick, who was sitting next to me, snorted. "As if, you totally wish you were as beautiful as me." He joked. Annie scolded him to be nice.

"Yeah, and I love him back...But he'll never really be mine…there's always something stopping us from being together, whether it's the Capitol women or my hatred. We'll never be together." I looked at the TV screen to see Penny pulling out her knife "I know what we have to do." Morgan's eyes got really wide and she started panicking. _Penny couldn't!_ I thought. "Morgan, we're the only two left, and I know for a fact you won't kill me…so…"

Then she did it…she drove the knife into her own heart…She killed herself for some random girl.

The cannon boomed and the trumpets flared while a sobbing Morgan was hauled away. I was bawling, I ran to my room and slammed the door, – childish, I know – crying. No one bothered to come and get me but I turned on my TV to watch Morgan's interview, she wouldn't stop crying, like me. I slammed my fist into the wall and smashed anything within reach.

"So Morgan, what was going through your mind when Penny sacrificed herself for your victory?" Caesar asked her, the sobs started again and she couldn't pull herself together long enough to even answer the dumb question. You couldn't blame her though; she had witnessed her big brother figure and a best friend die…for her.

Cremai never got me, even when it was dinner. Everything in my room was broken or smashed, including the television. I had punched out the mirrors and had bloody hands, but I couldn't stop crying. I'd lost the love of my life to some stupid Capitol game. I really thought she could make it out, how wrong I had been.

President Snow didn't call me with costumers; no one wanted a crying seventeen year old boy. I know Penny would have yelled at me to suck it up, but I couldn't…her words rung through my head _"I have nothing."_ I knew she meant that I was never around, I was always pleasing women in the Capitol. I had always wanted nothing more than to return home to her.

I had dreamed about my return, I'd come home with a bouquet of flowers. She'd jump into my arms and we'd live happily ever after…but Snow always had another idea.

I would never truly be hers, and she would never truly be mine. It's like she said, there's always going to be something in between us…and that something just happens to be death.

**. . .**

I sat in my Capitol apartment, I never turned on the lights, and I just sat on the couch and fixed my stare at a random point on the wall. Oliveria had to feed me when I wouldn't eat, she'd dust and make me go to sleep.

I knew I'd never fully be whole again, if I ever recovered. My family called every once and a while, Oliveria would pick up and put it on speaker so that I could listen to them speak. I didn't want my family, my caretaker or my life…I wanted my Penny back.

Morgan's public appearances were scarce, it seemed as though she was just as devastated as I, but I still blamed her. I blamed who ever I could, Morgan, the Capitol…I even lashed out at Oliveria a few times.

The pain and sadness was eating me alive. I couldn't run from it, even if I could move at all. Finally president Snow knocked on my door, I had Oliveria get it. He kneeled down beside the couch and spoke.

"Nickel, it's almost time for the Quarter Quell. We're going to need you to brave through this ear, you're the only mentor district three has." I looked at him as his breath made me want to gag, blood and roses. I gave a curt nod. "Good, we have something very special planned for this year, it's a surprise, even to the mentors." And with that he was gone. The only surprise I wanted, was Penny.

**An: Okay now before you guys flip shit on me about killing Penny, just know that this story has soooo many unexpected twists and turns that you won't be able to comprehend what happens. But yeah in the end (probably at the end of the sequel) everyone lives happily ever after. SO NO FLIPPING SHIT ON ME!**


	11. A loss

**A loss**

**-Morgan-**

I slumped down infront of her bloody body, crying.

"No! Don't leave me Penny!" I whispered into her hair. The trumpets were flaring and a hovercraft was approaching. Weeks of trying to get her out of this damn arena, back to Nickel, and for what? Nothing!

They pried me off of her, the dried blood and tears were sticking to my cheeks. I didn't bother to thrash around, if I yelled 'fuck the Capitol' they'd probably kill May and Nini. _Oh god! Nini!_ Her brother was dead and now her best friend was going insane. My arms were being held by two peacekeepers. I despised them, their uniform, title…everything about them. When people looked at me they saw a cutesy little girl, and I used to be, but now I saw the truth, I saw these people for what they were…monsters.

I was sitting in the hovercraft as they removed my tracker and shined lights in my eyes, I didn't look at them, I didn't respond. "Morgan, are you okay, do you have any injuries?" a doctor asked as he tried to get my attention.

"What duh you care?" I mumbled. They were frantic to get me to respond again but I couldn't give them that…they killed them.

They took me back to the Capitol and my prep team met with me again. They were ecstatic that they got to dress me again. They were incompetent buffoons, they didn't realize what pain was, what the hunger games was doing…and they dressed me as a freaking cow! I was even mad at my stylist, Velar; I don't know why exactly, it might have been because she was a Capitol citizen.

"Kid! You did it, I didn't expect you to but you did!" my mentor, Freeda, had never really believed in me. She always thought Bracken was going to win…Bracken…I missed him.

"Now what dress to put you in for your winning interview?" Velar asked herself as she pulled out a book of dress designs. Freeda and Ral were having a conversation in the corner, Freeda had trained me and Ral had trained Bracken. I just stood there, as they all blurred past me.

I realized I was stepping onto stage, I had a baby-blue puffy dress on and blue flats. I made my way over to the chair next to Caesar. The video of the games played, I watched as all of the girls I meant to protect died, I saw Bracken and Penny…sacrifice their lives for mine, my worthless life.

Caesar started asking questions and the tears started rolling, I couldn't even answer one of his questions. I don't remember anything in between that and falling asleep on a plush Capitol bed.

That night my dreams were invaded by the twenty-three children that didn't need to die. The backs of my eyelids were projecting blood splatters, slits and cuts. Screams reverberated through my ears as I tossed and turned. Trying to escape these nightmares would be a futile attempt. I let them creep in and I could feel my sanity falling through my fingers like sand.

**. . .**

Ialla woke me up; my sheets were half wrapped around me and half on the floor. She freaked out. Escorts are always weird. After I got up and got dressed she dragged me overt to the dining table. I didn't eat, I didn't want to. Freeda tried to coax food into me but I wouldn't let her, she finally gave up. It was no use, I was a lost cause. She ended up comparing me to the mad girl from four, I wasn't mad…I was just slowly going insane.

On the train back to district ten I locked the door to my room and rocked back and forth on the bed. I didn't answer the door for anyone. I didn't dare go to sleep; terrified of what horror will play through my mind the next time I close my eyes.

When we arrived I opened my door and walked out onto the docking station. There was a mass crowd of cheering people. In the distance, standing back, I saw Nini. Her eyes were streaked with tears as she played with the hem of her shirt. She smiled sadly at me and I returned it. My mother pulled me into a long, teary embrace, as did the rest of my family. I ran over to Nini and hugged her, she sobbed into my shoulder. That's how the next few days went, Nini and me crying.

**. . .**

Months passed and I barely went outside, I knew there was always someone waiting for me to open that door. My parents grew worried but never said a word. May delivered my food and pushed me to talk, but I never did. Nini stopped coming over she had probably resumed a some-what normal life…without me. No one needed me anymore, my family didn't need me to take care of them, Nini could find some other best friend and Bracken didn't need me to hang-out when Nini wasn't home. I was useless now…a piece of junk, trash.

I had just days before the victory tour began.

Ialla came to get me, my prep team freaked about my hair and nails. They combed out my deep burgundy locks and applied fake nails on top of the stubs I've been chewing. Velar came in after they had bathed and plucked. She pulled out a deep green dress that came to right above my knees, it hugged my figure and the sleeves hung off the shoulders. They put it on me, along with emerald heels, and ushered me out to the train station.

Everybody stared at me and there was paparazzi taking pictures. I climbed onto the train, put on a fake smile and waved good-bye to this smelly district.

"Alright, we're starting the tour at district twelve." Ialla said as I sat in a plush chair…_Lily_.

I was _so_ not ready for this, but I guess I'd have to live through it.

**An: listen! PENNY DIED FOR A REASON! OKAY! Okay! Now: these next few chapters are the victory tour and the days leading until the fourth quarter quell, then the quarter quell are in someone else's POV, you'll never guess who's! You get a million bonus points in my heart if you do guess tho.**


	12. Victor's price

**An: I just found the perfect song for Penny's death: "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance.**

**Okay, more victory tour**

**Victor's price**

We arrived in twelve within hours. It was a dark, dreary district; no one looked moderately content with the living situation.

On the right side of the stage I saw a woman with pale blonde hair and blue eyes, she was crying into a man's shoulder. The man had **(An: at this point I edited the story so that this couple is PrimXRory.) **short, dark hair and grey eyes. That must be Prim and her husband. To the left I saw an older couple with dark hair and grey eyes, they must have been the male tribute parent's, I felt bad that I never even learned his name.

Ialla handed me my pre-written speech and I stepped up to the podium. "Hello district twelve, I would like to start out by saying that I am very, very sorry for your losses." I didn't look up, I just couldn't. "While I didn't know Finch…I did know Lily, she was a good person, and had a very kind heart…" I read off of the paper, barely comprehending what I was saying. I finally looked up to see Primrose smiling at me, it was a sad smile, but it was a smile.

I sat quietly through the feast, shaking hands and nodding when necessary. I tuned out to what most everyone was saying. I couldn't handle this.

I was relieved when we got back on the train the next morning. It took another few hours to get to district eleven, I really didn't want to address the whole Bermuda situation, and I still felt bad about killing her.

The people seemed to glare at me. I knew it was my fault that they didn't get the chance to win. I didn't even know the male tribute, Thistle. I gave the speech that Ialla wrote for me. I didn't dare look at anything but that paper.

The rest of the tour went about the same; I couldn't look up or face anyone. Until district three…

To the left there was a woman, a man and a girl no older than nine. That must have been Olin's family. But what I saw to the right was a sadder sight to behold. To the right was Nickel, he was crying and couldn't look up at me, the other seats were empty. I felt his pain; I had lost a loved one…two if you count a new friend.

"…I know these losses are hard for you all…"at that moment I decided my scripted speech wasn't enough. "Heck it was one of the hardest things for me. Penny had grown to be a great friend of mine and I was just crushed when she…was lost." Nickel looked up and attempted a smile; I'd take what he gave though. I returned a sad smile to him and returned to my scripted speech.

During the feast he came and sat next to me as I was picking through my food. "I liked your speech." His voice made me jump a bit and he chuckled. "Jumpy much? I guess it's only natural after the arena." The way he says arena brings memories flooding back to my mind. He notices the tension and attempts to diffuse it. "So, you know they're thinking about doing something really special for the quarter quell, they won't even tell me what it is." He's not helping at all but I'll try to work with what he gives me.

"Really? I wonder what it is…" I reply hollowly. "I hope they don't make me mentor twice the amount of children just to watch them die." I crushed a pea with my fork.

"I don't know, maybe if you're not attached to them it doesn't hurt as much…I wouldn't know, the one year I did mentor my soul mate died." He laughed coldly and smiled a bit.

"I'm so sorry Nickel…I didn't- I just…" he cut me off by pulling me into a hug.

"I know I miss her too." He whispers, I can tell he's crying. I lose it, I start sobbing. We go out into the hall because people were looking at us weirdly. "I can't tell you it'll get better…it just seems to get worse every day for me."

"I miss Bracken so much! I can't even imagine your pain with Penny, I know mine is unbearable. I feel so guilty." I put my head in my hands.

"I blamed you for a while too…but it's not your fault, it never was and never will be. Now come on, we got to go back inside." I wipe my eyes and nod. We walk back in and take our seats. I eat the rest of my dinner in silence before going to the room they issued for me.

Districts one and two were just plain awkward, I knew everyone hated me; I did kill Inxy and Alder. Everyone glared at me while I gave my speeches. I'd sit quietly and barely eat at their feasts. I watched as people glared at me…I wish I wasn't so alone in this.

We arrived in the Capitol at dawn. It was just as beautiful as I remember. The colors on both the buildings and people were just as vivid and bright as my memory portrayed. I was shuffled out of the train and into a big building.

"Ah. Morgan, welcome to the Capitol…again." the man in front of me laughed coldly, his breath smelled like blood and roses. Snow. I scowled at him and he laughed again. "Such a pretty, young girl." He was walking in circles around me, in no way was I pretty! "Just wait until you're seventeen, you'll practically live here." He whispered, it sent shivers down my spine. _What's that supposed to mean!_ I found myself spending all my thoughts on it during the feast. President Snow stood up to a big podium and started speaking. "Ahem. Thank you all for coming to the victory feast of Morgan Tresean." He begins _Oh God; here we go…_I thought. "She had a valiant victory." _No I didn't!_ He keeps spewing lies of how brave I am. When he finishes everyone claps, but he continues talking. "Now! To unveil the plans for the quarter quell." All the mentors straighten up but Nickel looks around like he knows something is different. "As you all know for the fiftieth we had twice as many people, for the seventy fourth we had multiple victors – although only one survived – and for the seventy fifth we had victors go in." I cringed at the thought, Finnick won those games. "so we have decided to host the first of many 'Repeat games', how exciting is that?" _Wait what? What's the repeat games. _"Here's how it works. We have brought all the tributes from last year back to life." I glance over at Nickel, he's freaking out. "To fight in the arena once more, but this time four may survive." This means I get a do-over, I can save them! I get to save them from horrible, unjustified deaths. Nickel seems to be thinking the same thing.

We can save them.


	13. Repeat games

**An: WHAT DID I TELL YOU? Lol!**

**The repeat games**

**-Penny-**

I woke up to a throbbing pain in my chest, _didn't I stab myself?_ I thought. I opened my eyes, bright lights flooded my eyes. The entire room was white, there were beeping machines all around me. There was a needle sticking out of my arm. "Good morning Penny!" A smiling doctor said.

"Am I dead? Because this heaven sucks ass!" I spit at him, he looks like he's from the Capitol, with his blue hair and eyelashes. He chuckled and a few nurses came in to play around with the machines. One came to adjust the needle. "Watch it!" I snapped as I felt it poke around. She looked at me with a frightened expression. I get angry and snappy when I'm hungry. I turn to the male doctor. "So how long have I been a zombie?" I figure I've been brought back to life, I mean I was being hugged by Janni and now I'm in a hospital.

"Well right after you stabbed yourself we brought you in." he writes something down on his clip-board.

"So is everyone else brought back to life and goes to live in solitude or am I _special_." I put a mocking emphasis on 'special'. He looks at me quizzically.

"It's only this game that we brought people back, and chances are you're going to die again in the quarter quell." He suddenly wasn't as cheery and bright as he used to be he was bitter and curt. "It's all so we can throw you back in the arena."

"Maybe I can save Olin and Bracken." I mutter, he chuckles and they all leave the room. I abruptly sit up and rip the IV out of my arm. I stood up, there was a white hospital gown around me, and I had on clean under clothes. I was wandering around the halls when I heard a boy's screaming from a room.

"Where's Morgan?" It shouted…_Bracken!_ I ran in the room to see Bracken yelling at the doctor.

"She won! We didn't need to bring her back to life!" the doctor explained. Bracken looked up and saw me.

"Penny! Where's Morgan? Who won the games?" he had a wildly desperate look on his face.

"Bracken…it came down to the two of us." His expression grew sad. "I knew she would never kill me…so I stabbed myself. She's fine, she won." His face eased and became relaxed. He sat down while taking all this in. "Want to help me find Olin?" I ask him, just to give him something to do; he's twiddling his raw thumbs. He nods and we head down the hall to the other door marked with a three. I open it to see a sleeping Olin. "Olin." I barely whisper.

His eyes flutter open and he looks at the two of us. "Seriously you guys are going to haunt me in my death too?" he bangs his head on his pillow until I stop him.

"We're alive Olin, we were brought back to life." His eyes widen as I say this he sits up and takes out his IV. Then he eyes me suspiciously.

"How'd you even die? Who won? Why were we brought to life?" he bombarded me with questions that I too would have had.

"Well, Bracken took a spear in the stomach for Morgan." Bracken nods. "And then it got down to the final two…Morgan and me…so I stabbed myself." I shrug nonchalantly; he stares at me with an open mouth. "So Morgan won, and they're putting us back in the arena for the quarter quell." Both of them are in shock now.

"They can't do that!" Bracken shouts angrily.

"They're the Capitol…yes they can." I breathe. All is quiet while we turn this information over in our minds.

The door to Olin's room opens and Cremai walks in. "I thought you'd be in here! Bracken, your escort is looking for you." He leaves and she turns back to us. "Tomorrow is the reaping…" she gets cut off by our prep teams running in.

**. . .**

I'm standing next to Olin, right at the doors of the justice building, ready to open them to the outside world when my name is drawn.

"Are you okay?" Olin asks. I'm shaking slightly.

"Yeah, I just expect my skin to rot and my limbs to fall off at any second." I joke, he huffs a single laugh before we continue to wait.

I can hear Cremai call our names through the thick metal door. "And your tributes! Penny Hedge and Olin Palka." The door opens and the entire crowd has wide eyes and open jaws. We wave. I feel myself practically get tackled.

"PENNY!" Nickel cries. He has wrapped his arms around me in a bone-crushing hug. The peacekeepers take Olin and I back to the train, it was a waste of time to take it here just to take it back.

We step on board and Nickel hugs me again, this time I get the chance to hug him back. "What were you thinking?" He whispers into my hair. I shrug and curl against him tighter.

Night creeps up on us and instead of going to the room Cremai directed me to I decide to live a little. I knock on the door and Nickel opens, he's shirtless and has on only underwear. I breathe in deeply before smashing my lips against his. He's surprised at first but doesn't protest it. His hands go to my waist as he pulls me in the room and closes the door. I deepen the kiss by running my fingers through the dirty blonde hair I'll never make him cut, I like it shaggy. I was pushed onto the Capitol bed as I tried to pull him closer than humanly possible. Everything was going so fast, all I knew was now I knew what dying felt like and I never wanted to leave Nickel…ever.

**. . .**

I woke up before him this morning, it was about five. His arms were securely wrapped around me and I was cuddled up to his bare chest. I slid out from his grasp and walked to a dresser to get some clothes when I see it, a paper lying on the dresser, words are scribbled on it.

_I fear for her_

_I wish with all my strength for her to be okay_

_I can't stand the thought of losing her_

_She is my world_

_She'd give her life for someone else_

_And she does_

_My world is gone_

_My sun has burnt out_

_I've lost everything I care about_

_I lost her to a game_

_Her love and caring got in the way_

_We cracked her stone heart_

_All I want is to run and be by her side_

_But all I can do is watch…helpless_

_Throbbing pain in my heart_

_My love…gone_

_I had been foolish to hope_

_I had been stupid to think_

_And now she's gone_

_I have nothing left but the memories_

_Her smile_

_Her laugh_

_Her kiss_

_Gone…_

I finished reading the poem when I felt the presence behind me, arms wrapped around my stomach and lips touched my neck.

"I didn't know you did poetry." I say, putting it back down and turning around. He brushes a stray clump of hair behind my ear.

"I thought it would help." He replied sadly, staring intently into my eyes.

"And did it?" I ask my hands on his shoulder now. He shook his head before kissing my neck again.

"The only thing that takes away most of the pain is you being in my arms." He whispers into my neck. I pull him closer and bury my face in his chest.

"I'll never leave you ever again." I mumble just loud enough for him to hear. He chuckles.

"And how long to you plan on keeping that promise?" He asks, stroking my cheek.

"Forever." He pulls me into a long, tender kiss.

And I did plan on keeping that promise forever and ever.


	14. Nickel's secret

**Nickel's secrets**

Loka squealed with excitement when she saw me, I still had distaste for her, but she apparently adored me. The dress she put me in was neon yellow with silvery waves that seemed to move across it. Olin's suit did the same exact thing. The chariot ride seemed less intimidating as we rode down the elevator. The second we stepped out I was tackled to the ground by a screaming girl.

"My god Penny! I thought you was dead! Don't EVER do that to me again." came Morgan's shaky voice. I hugged the crying girl back while her stylist came over to yell about her make-up. Morgan was dragged off to her chariot while Olin and I had to get on ours.

The crowd went wild as we entered the city square. I didn't know whether it was about something Olin did or the fact that I committed suicide for Morgan. I smiled and waved, playing it up as much as I could.

When we got back to the flat we immediately dug into dinner, I was hungry beyond belief.

"Let's watch the re-caps!" Cremai suggested after we finished. I then noticed the absence of a certain dirty-blonde boy.

"Where's Nickel?" I asked her.

"Oh! Snow sent him to some party to schmooze up some woman who's a potential sponsor." My heart fell. _How could he? I thought he had left the Capitol women for me…I thought he loved me._ I could feel my heart shattering into a million pieces. Before the lump in my throat progressed I ran to my room and slammed the door.

**. . .**

I had been sobbing on the bed for hours, images of him with Capitol women flooded my mind, and I couldn't stop them. There was a knock on my door.

"Penny! Let me in!" Nickel said from behind the door.

"NO! Go away! YOU LIED TO ME!" I scream as I throw the alarm clock at the door, it shatters but he opens the door anyways. He sits down on the end of the bed while I glare at him, the tears are still streaming down my face but I don't care. "I can't believe I ever thought you loved me." I growl at him. His face twists in pain and he puts his head in his hands.

"It's not my choice Penny!" he says quietly. "They make me…do stuff." I have no idea what he's saying.

"Do what?" I sound more angry than curious.

"They make me do…favors…" He grabs his hair in frustration. "Sexual favors!" Rage fills me, _He's a prostitute? I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN! _I beat myself up over it.

"Well why can't you just say no?" The rage I feel is filling my voice. He turns to me, his cheeks streaked with tears.

"They said they'd kill you!" He weeps more. I can't take it; I gather the boy in my arms and rock him while he cries. "I want nothing more than to break free, go home with you and never come back to the Capitol!" Instead of replying I stroke his hair while he rants on about how he wants nothing more than to be with me…and I believe him. "…You have to win…" he says out of the blue. "I lost you once, I can't again…Morgan was a wreck as well." He continues. I stop rocking and look in his eyes. "Four can win…you can do it!" Now he's holding me.

I lay back and let him embrace me in his arms. He continually kisses my forehead and nose. "I love you Nickel…" I whisper.

"I love you too Penny, More than you'll ever know." He replies.

**. . .**

I wake up to a warm but empty bed. _Of course!_ I thought. Where he was when I fell asleep was still warm so he had left recently. The bathroom door opened and Nickel ran to the bed and jumped on it, landing so he was propped over me.

"Good morning beautiful." He smirks before kissing my neck.

"Well if that's going to be what you do first thing…" I smirk back at him. "_Good morning right back._" I purr the last part in a seductive tone into his ear. His teeth sink into his lip as his eyes widen with lust. And of course Cremai opens the door right then.

"I don't care if I'm interrupting anything but…We start training in a half an hour." She snarls. He slams the door behind her.

"I swear that woman!" Nickel says before getting off the bed. I laugh at this, seems she annoys not only me but everyone else. I put on the clothes that lay on the dresser.

"There's always tonight." I mumble and leave the room before he can comment on my hint.

Olin is waiting at the table patiently. His outfit is a simple white t-shirt with beige work out shorts. Mine suddenly seem small and skimpy compared to his. He eyes my suspiciously as Nickel comes out of my room while buttoning his shirt. He lets it go.

"So Nickel, what brilliant plan you got this year?" he asks sarcastically.

"How was I supposed to know she was going to do that?" Nickel asks defensivly. Now I'm really curious.

"Wait, Olin, how did you die?" He looks at me for a while before Nickel replies for him.

"Echo slit his throat while he slept." Olin cringes at this statement; I do too, just one more reason to hate Echo. "But the plan is; you two team up with Morgan and Bracken then you live! No suicides!" Nickel looks pained at the last part.

"Got it boss." Olin says before walking into the elevator. I pull Nickel in for a kiss before following Olin. "Peyton cried when she saw me…" Olin breaks the silence. "…She told me she liked me back. We have to win, so you can go home to Nickel and I can live happily with Peyton." He's speaking quietly. I nod in reply as the elevator stops.

We step out into the training room. Morgan and Bracken walk over. "Hey y'all!" she says cheerfully. "Just so yah know…" she goes to a serious whisper now "…them careers have been glaring for a while." I turn my eyes a bit to find all six careers glaring at me…especially Camas, Echo and Hawkins (the ones I killed).

"Let's intimidate them then." I pick up an axe, hand a sword to Morgan and a spear to Bracken. "Olin, what weapon do you use?" I ask, I never really found out.

"Um…Hawkins…" he replies awkwardly.

"Are you kidding me?" I'm annoyed now. "Now we have to train you." This was going to take time.

We try and axe like me, he smacked himself with the handle…same with nun-chucks. We try a sword like Morgan, to heavy and long for him. We try a spear like Bracken, it ends up hitting the floor before anything else. I hand him a bow and arrow.

"Okay please be good at these!" I pray. He sets one up and hits the target exactly in the bull's eye. I stand there…gawking at it. He turns around to smile smugly at us. "I think we found your talent…" it was a stupid comment but it made it less awkward to stand there looking like idiots.

We have our winning crew.


	15. Dark future

**An: I have a SYOT of the 101****st**** hunger games; I have a ton of open slots and need bloodbath characters! Submit your tribute!**

**Dark future**

After training that day I flopped onto the couch in the living-room, utterly defeated and exhausted. We had spent the entire day training in physically draining combat skills.

"Tired?" Nickel joked as he sat next to me and stroked my back. I muttered a reply but it was lost in the pillow. "Hopefully you're not too tired, you did hint at something this morning." He continued to have a light-hearted attitude. I grumbled and hit his shoulder.

"Nothing you didn't get on the train…or last night at that party you went to." His face went to playfully serious.

"And what do you think I got at the party, 'cause it sure wasn't what I got on the train." He pulled me into his arms and kissed the top of my head. I was too tired to come up with a reply.

"We have visitors." Cremai shouted from the elevator.

"Who is it?" Nickel shouted back. Morgan and Bracken came into view and Nickel welcomed them, he was still holding me on the couch but they didn't seem uncomfortable about it.

"We're here strictly on social business." Morgan winks, it's against the rules to visit other districts to strategize.

"That's just fine then." Nickel takes the hint and goes along with it.

"Wow, tired much?" Bracken laughs as he looks over me lying limp in Nickel's arms. I nod weakly.

"You got a girl?" Nickel asks Bracken. He shakes his head and nods over to Morgan. Nickel looks over at Morgan expectantly as her face flushes.

"She likes Calibur." Bracken says, Morgan hits his shoulder and starts to yell, but doesn't deny it. "He likes her back to!" Morgan stops and stares at him in disbelief. "He just doesn't want to ruin the friendship if it doesn't work out." Morgan is deep in thought now.

"And who might this Calibur be?" I manage to ask. Morgan blushes.

"He's my best guy-friend… we've been friends since we first met." She sounds embarrassed but Bracken keeps laughing.

It was a nice visit and we chatted like old friends, even when Olin comes in. We find out a lot about Morgan and Bracken.

"Ready for bed?" Nickel whispers after they leave. I nod and he picks me up bridal-style before taking me to my – I guess our – bedroom. He lays me down on the bed, and then strips to put on his pajamas; I struggle with mine due to the ache in my arms. "Let me help you with that." He says sympathetically as he pulls my shirt down onto my torso. I felt helpless as I lay back on the bed.

"I'm so taking it down a notch on training tomorrow." I grumble. Nickel laughs before pulling me into his embrace.

"I don't know, I kind of like helpless Penny!" I scowl at him. "I like you being as dependent on me as I am on you." My scowl turns into a questioning look. "Penny, you mean the world to me…without you I'm nothing" The room has a very serious air to it so I decide to lighten the mood.

"Are we going to pour our hearts out every night? You're bound to run out of cheesy lines soon enough." He snorts and smiles, then leans in to kiss me.

"Nope, I will never run out of cheesy lines! I have a book of them." I have a good laugh about this before my eyelids turn to lead and I slip into blissful unconsciousness.

**. . .**

"Pen…rise and shine." I hear Nickel whispering in my ear. I groan and look at the clock.

"I don't know what you're talking about! We have hours before we have to be in training." I give him a pretend glare for waking me up so early.

"Exactly!" He growls back. I roll over to put my back to him.

"It's freaking three in the morning Nickel!" I complain. Much to my dismay he wraps his arms around my waist and sits me in his lap.

"I have less than one week, I want to spend every second of it with you." I hear the sincerity in his voice and give in.

"Fine, I'll stay up…but no funny business!" He nods and rests his head in the crook of my neck.

"Got it." He mumbles into my neck.

We sit like that for quite some time until the new and replaced alarm clock starts wailing. Nickel hits the snooze button before we reluctantly get up. I put on my training uniform before Cremai can barge in. Nickel grabs me and pulls me close to him.

"God…Please…I can't lose you again, win this time?" His eyes were full of pleading.

"Nickel, I told you…I'm coming home as long as you are." I tell him. He lets go sadly and sits on the bed.

"I just can't take that again, I want this all to just be over!" He's pulling on his hair. I sat next to him and stroked his back.

"I'm coming back Nickel…" And with that the door flung open and Cremai stood in the door frame.

"Come on kiddies, let's go!" She was obviously drunk so we didn't question her. We got up and entered the hall. Bracken was sitting in the living room, twiddling his thumbs nervously, his face looks like he's just gone through something tragic.

"Bracken? What's wrong?" Nickel asks, Bracken is noticeable shaking.

"It…Morgan…Snow…him…he said…" He couldn't finish his sentence. He looked up at Nickel with pleading eyes. "Seventeen." It was all Nickel needed before he clenched his fists and his eyes widened.

"How'd you get this information?" I had no clue what they were talking about.

"She said he told her she'd practically live here next year." Bracken looks like he's about to cry. "Oh god! You have to help!" Tears were forming in his eyes.

"Nickel…what's happening?" I was truly confused; I'd never seen Bracken this freaked out.

"Snow's going to sell Morgan." It all made sense now, Bracken being freaked out, him coming to Nickel for help. "Bracken! He can't touch her until she's won, we'll figure something out, plus she's still only fifteen." Bracken doesn't look and easier.

"Today's her birthday…" We had less time than we thought. Nickel kept saying that she was only sixteen. "Nickel! The time we were unconscious! Today s her seventeenth birthday! I'm nineteen!" I had totally forgotten, I was sixteen…I was dead on my birthday, I'd totally missed Nickels too.

"Nickel, we missed your birthday." It was a stupid point to bring up now but I felt like I had to. Nickel turned to me with pain in his eyes.

"You were alive for half my birthday." He said before turning back to Bracken…_I'm a horrible person!_ I killed myself on Nickel's seventeenth birthday. "We won't let that happen, to either of them." I clued myself in that they were talking about both me and Morgan.

This whole seventeen thing confused me deeply; they sold Nickel when he was barely sixteen. This whole ordeal made less sense as it progressed. My head spinning and I couldn't think straight, my peripheral vision started to fill with black swirls and before I knew it I could feel the cold floor slamming against my side and my eyes closing.


	16. Deja vu

**EY! YOU! YES YOU! IF YOU LIKE FANNIE (Finnick X Annie) THEN CHECK OUT "ON THE RUN" BY PatnissEverlark123! THANK YOUUUUUU!**

**Déjà vu**

I woke up in my bed…alone. _What happened?_ My head was throbbing and my side hurt. I sat up to see if Nickel was anywhere near-by, he wasn't. I groaned and flopped back onto the bed, causing a jolt of pain to shoot through my back, I must have cried out because Nickel opened the door with a worried expression.

"What happened?" I asked, my voice was hoarse and groggy.

"Bracken and I were discussing yours and Morgan's…urm…situation." It all came back to me now.

"Oh." I stated simply, he awkwardly sat on the bed. He was looking at some random point on the wall. "So how many days did I miss?" I finally ask.

"A few." Well, I'd been out for quite some time then.

"Define 'a few'." I needed to know exactly how long I'd been in a coma.

"The individual examination is in an hour." He said quietly "The interviews are tomorrow." He looked sad and regretful.

I got out of bed without a word and put on the training uniform. He's still staring at the wall when I exit the room. Olin is just leaving his too.

"Penny! Just in time, I thought they'd have to pull an unconscious tribute into the arena." He joked. I didn't laugh and he bit his lip nervously.

"What'd I miss in training?" cut to the chase, I didn't have time for chit-chat.

"Not much…Well, nothing we can't give you quick lessons on when we get in the arena." He replies, I nod and we both walk towards the elevator.

We arrive in the basement and sit, waiting for our names to be called. Morgan came up to us with fear and worry all over her face.

"Penny, are you okay?" she asks, she's a little shaky but Bracken helps steady her.

"Yeah, I was just…rendered unconscious for a while…happy belated birthday." She gives a small smile at this and Bracken leads her back to their seats.

"Inxy Radley." That name always started these things

Inxy stood up and flipped her platinum blonde hair in my face, I winced back but didn't snap at her.

"Penny Hedge." The name finally called. I walked into the room and inspected my surroundings. The game makers hadn't gotten bored yet and were staring intently at me, so I picked up an axe and weighed it in my hands. I glanced over at the dummy and before I could actually register what was happening I was chucking the axe and it was lodging in the exact center of the dummy's head. I looked up at the game makers to see shock and disbelief in all their eyes. I put my hand on my hip and smiled at them. "You may be dismissed." One said. I left without another word.

**. . .**

Nickel was sitting on the couch when I got back, he was a mess. His hair was un-brushed and he had dark bags under his eyes. "How'd you do?" he asked, smiling tiredly. I cuddled up next to him.

"I think I did well." I mumble into his chest. "But you look horrible…go get some sleep." He nods.

"I'll take a nap if you nap with me." He teases, I agree and we fall asleep on the couch.

**. . .**

We awoke to Olin and Cremai watching the results from today. I pulled off a ten, so did Olin and Bracken, Morgan got an eight. Nickel congratulated us before sending Olin to bed.

"You should probably go to bed too; you have a big day tomorrow." He said sadly. I nodded but didn't get up. He seemed to understand that I didn't want to go into the empty room. He let me stay curled up on the couch while he went to grab a blanket and some pillows.

"I love you Penny." He whispered softly as he spread the blanket over the two of us. I tried to respond but sleep was pulling me under.

**. . .**

The interviews went as normally as possible, nothing exciting happened at all. It all just felt like a routine, like going through the motions, which scared me beyond words. Nickel had decided not to find us sponsors that night; I guess he wanted to stay with me for my last night alive. I did believe we were fully capable of winning, I just highly doubted it, and we were targets now. I was awaiting my doom in whatever arena they'd come up with this year.

**(An: okay I know it's short but I have writers block and had a SUPER busy weekend.)**


	17. let's restart

**Let's restart**

I stood in the room with Loka, she fawned over my hair and the outfit. We were wearing white t-shirts with our district numbers printed on each shoulder.

"Oh they're just so sneaky!" She says while examining the hem. "The fabric tells me absolutely nothing about this year's arena!" This worries me greatly. I nod and the monotonic voice warns me that I have a limited time. I step into the tube and am soon whisked away into the arena.

I check out my surroundings, we're on a field. To one side there's a step that levels out onto another field, farther beyond lies a cliff overlooking a vast ocean. To the other side is a dense forest. I notice there's a hill with a concrete structure leading in. Engraved in the top is 'Ebey's landing, 1829', I don' have time to decipher what that means before the final countdown starts.

_Three_

I frantically look around for any sign of my allies.

_Two_

I see Morgan and Bracken on opposite sides of each other; I'm guessing Olin is behind the cornucopia.

_One_

My heartbeat quickens as I observe the items in the cornucopia, I notice the abundance of weapons…and lack of food…

_Zero_

I find myself sprinting full-force towards the metal structure. I can hear screams of the other kids. I can hear metal clanging together. I quickly reach down and grab a backpack before running into the forest. It's really thick; my face is getting cut just by attempting to run through it. There are footsteps behind me, I'm praying its Bracken, Morgan or Olin, even though it's probably Echo. I don't slow down to figure it out.

"Penny! Slow down!" A panting Olin comes up beside me "God damnit!" I stop and look at the boy…he's pathetic! He can't even run a mile without getting winded. "Morgan and Bracken are right behind me." He manages. I can hear twigs snapping so I know its Bracken.

"Jesus Pen! You just bolted straight out of there!" Morgan was panting too. I rolled my eyes and Bracken started laughing.

"We should find a place to set up camp." Bracken suggests, we keep walking in search of a place we wouldn't start a forest fire at.

**. . .**

"Here looks good." Morgan looks around and punches Olin.

"What're you talking about? We'd die in a second!" She scolds him. We're in a small clearing surrounded by dense – flammable – forest. "There's just no place to make a fire in this arena is there?" No one answers her and she sits down.

We all follow her and I open my backpack to find a few knifes, a bag of dried meat and one water bottle. I shoved it all back in frustration.

"Anyone else notice the lack of food this year?" They look at each other before Bracken nods.

"Yeah, it's weird. The fanny-pack I picked up has, like, one stick of gum…" Bracken lifts a small bag and throws it on top of my pack "Let's pool our resources." We all throw everything we gathered into a growing pile, it's not much but it's enough.

I notice its getting dark and volunteer for first watch but Bracken knows me better than that.

"So how many people died in the bloodbath? I wasn't counting." Olin says out of the blue.

"Eight." Morgan is always the counter with this thing. That means two groups of four are dead.

"Do we know who?" I'm hoping it's the careers but the odds are against it, I just hope Camas isn't still after me.

"We won't know until the night." Bracken ends the conversation. "Olin and I will take first watch." He offers, Morgan gladly accepts the sleep.

"Just tell me who we have left tomorrow." I mutter before laying my head down on my backpack as a pillow.

**. . .**

"Penny!" I'm shaken awake. Olin doesn't look frantic so I just sit up.

"What?" I spit at him, I'm not a morning person.

"Okay so the dead kids are eleven and nine." He tells me. Morgan looks at me and mouths 'Bermuda' I nod and she smirks a bit. I'll bet she's partly glad she doesn't have to kill her once more.

"Alright, so there's a ton more people to kill." Olin says, we all glare at him.

"There's no way I'm killing anyone." This surprises me, coming from Bracken. He looks like he wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone.

"You mean you didn't kill anyone last year?" I interject. He shakes his head and Olin begins laughing.

"You're kidding me, right?" Olin is clutching his sides. Bracken shakes his head again and the laughter stops.

The sun still isn't quite up so we don't dare continue walking. Bracken suggests scaling the bluff. Once the sun is a good ways up we pack up our camp and head to the edge of the cliff, I look down to see the waves violently crashing against the rocks below. Olin clutches desperately to a tree.

"How did you even get into the career pack last year?" Bracken was eyeing the pathetic boy. Morgan scoffed and kept walking. Olin whimpered in protest but kept going.

Eventually we found a trail going down onto the rocky beach below, unfortunately there were people waiting for us.

"Well hello Penny." Camas spat at me. I noticed it was four and five; Vivek was hiding behind her district partner. Caspia and Caspian were glaring at Olin. I caught Vivek's eye 'I'm sorry' she mouthed.

"Ha, I don't even know who any of you are." Bracken said. I noticed Morgan looking intently at Vivek.

"Well that might be because I have nothing against you." Camas shot back. "Now let me kill Penny and I'll let the rest of you continue, a temporary truce if you will." He was looking at his sword. Bracken shook his head and shifted so he was slightly in front of me, even though I was the one who was armed. I pulled a knife from the bag and took a chance, it lodged in Camas's chest and he fell to the ground. Caspia's eyes widened before she looked up at me.

"My god! You killed him twice, you really are heartless." Did she expect this to have any effect on me? After killing ten or so kids it really didn't. I nodded and smiled. I took the knife from Camas's body and pointed it at her.

"Now go away, I really don't want anything to do with Vivek's death." I say, she looks at the knife, gulps, then nods and backs away.

**(An: LOL how'd you like that chapter? Haha I made her kill Camas twice XDXDXDXD…she kind of acts like a psychopath in this one. Maybe I should do Nickel's POV, just to see what he thinks of new Penny!)**


	18. Battles of life

**Battles of life**

It had been a day since I killed Camas, and the hunger was beginning to set in.

"Now I know why it's called the _Hunger _Games." Morgan groaned while we searched for food. A loud grumbling was heard but we couldn't tell who it came from. I, myself, was feeling rather low on…well, everything. I hadn't slept in a day; we couldn't find any food or water.

"Damn it Nickel! Now would be a good time for one of those handy-dandy parachutes!" I look up at the sky. The sun is beating down on us, even through the thick canopy. I could almost see him shaking his head and telling me to 'tough through it'. "Seriously…" I try to play my last angle I had. "…If you loved me you would." I pout; I can hear Morgan stifle a laugh. As if on que, a pretty sizable silver parachute comes out of the air. Bracken catches it.

"Thanks man." Bracken says before opening it. It's a big jug of water.

"YES! I love you too Nickel!" I fist pump and take a gulp. "Okay we need to not drink this all at once." I tell everyone.

About a second later three cannons go off. Morgan looks at me.

"Who do you think that was?" Olin asks. Bracken sighs.

"Again, we won't know until night!" Everytime a cannon goes off Olin asks us like we should know. "Ask one more time and you'll be the next cannon." It was easy to see how annoyed he was by this younger boy.

"Whoa, whoa, what happened to the 'no violence' thing?" And Olin did a horrible job of securing his safety.

"I'll get Morgan to kill you." Bracken grumbles before continuing on the journey. Olin gulps and shuts up. I follow them and can hear Morgan giggling at Bracken for being so grumpy.

Now all we need to do is find food.

**. . .**

"My foot hurts!" Olin complains. We'd been walking for hours with no food in sight.

"Shut up!" Bracken whispers. A twig snaps…but we all stopped walking. My head whips around just in time to see a flash of blonde hair. I grab Morgan's arm, seeing as it was the closest thing to me.

"Just show yourself, we know your there!" I say quietly. All of the sudden Graven, the girl from seven, is in front of us. "Where's the rest of them?" I ask, knowing this could be a trap.

"Oh..." she looks down and sighs. "Coral, Orenthal and Thoren are dead." She looks up at us; her face is cut and bleeding. Bruises are spread all around her body; she is holding her stomach so its contents don't spill out. "Just kill me, I'm in so much pain!" she reaches behind her and pulls out a bow. "I'll trade you this for my death." She smiles a bit. Olin doesn't hesitate to take the bow, load it, and shoot her straight through the heart. Her cannon goes off.

"That was intense." Morgan says, her face is drained of color. We keep walking so the hover-craft can pick her up.

About an hour since Olin killed Graven a parachute falls, We open it to find four slices of bread that closely resemble bark from a tree. It must have been from district seven. We hungrily eat a piece each, but it won't hold us over for long.

**. . .**

"Is it just me or is this day really slow with very little deaths." Olin says. This gets me thinking…it's been a few days since Olin killed Graven and there were very sew deaths.

"I don't care! I'm just hungry!" Morgan is sitting against a tree, holding her stomach. That's when I notice something.

"Hey, wait a minute." I turn to the tree next to me and rip of a big piece of bark to inspect it. Morgan looks at me like I'm crazy. "I remember this stuff from training last year…this bark is eatable!" I say, their eyes go wide and they begin to peel off bark from the tree.

"Thank heavens! Food!" Bracken's piece is about as big as Olin.

We sit and eat for a few minutes, everyone is stuffed and the trees are stripped of bark so we decide to catch some sleep. Morgan takes the watch for tonight. As I'm drifting off to sleep I can only think of one thing.

_I can't wait to get home…come home to Nickel._

Peaceful slumber pulls me into its hold.

**. . .**

I wake up to everyone already awake.

"Okay, so who's left?" I ask Morgan. Her eyes were laced with fear.

"I-I don't know." She said. I looked at her, confused.

"How?" I ask, Bracken also looks worried and Olin is eating bark…

"T-the sky…blank…all night…not even the anthem." She whispered. I look to Bracken for an answer but he avoids my gaze.

"What does that mean?" I ask. "Maybe you just fell asleep." I suggest. She shakes her head.

"No! I was awake all night…" My head was spinning, I couldn't process what this all meant.

"Penny." Bracken puts his hand on my shoulder and lowers his voice to a whisper. "This isn't an arena…"

**(An: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN! LOL! If you actually research 'Ebey's Landing' (the place they are at) it might give you some spoilers. I just put them in my favorite place on earth!**


	19. Pushed

**Pushed**

They had explained to me that we weren't in an encased arena, but we were still trapped. It was an island that hadn't flooded when North America fell. I kept nodding but wasn't really following.

We eventually continued on our trek, Morgan didn't talk the whole time. I didn't know where we were going but it sure was far away. Around noon I got the feeling someone was watching it, Morgan must have got it to because she took a knife from my pack.

All of the sudden there was a screaming boy running at us, I raised my knife but by the time I did, his throat was slit and his district partner was running towards us as well. Morgan killed her too. The two cannons went off and Morgan continued walking, as if nothing had happened. Bracked looked at me with panic and pain very visible. I, too, was worried about her sanity.

"Morgan?" I asked. She turned around to face me, her face was void of emotion and she didn't reply. "Are you okay?" she continued to blankly stare at me. Something inside her must have snapped, she was pushed too far. I could see the hint of the blood-thirsty careers in her eyes. She wasn't the same girl anymore. "Can you hear me?" I reached out to touch her shoulder but she spun on her heels and kept walking. "What are we going to do?" I whispered to Bracken while we followed her. He shrugged.

"She won't harm us; she knows we're not the enemy." I believe him, but part of me says not to. I nod and we decide to set up camp for the rest of the day.

"You guys should go to sleep, I'll take watch." I say, even though it isn't yet dark, they fall asleep. I turn to see Morgan leaned against a tree; her eyes are glued to the ground. "Morgan, are you going to sleep?" she shakes her head. After about an hour of uncomfortable silence she talks.

"They don't go away." She mumbles, it's barely audible and her voice has taken a tone I don't recognize. "The nightmares haunt you in your wake too." She continues. She never moves once and her eyes are still on the same blade of grass, her mouth is barely even moving. "They never go away."I don't quite know what she's talking about. She finally moves, she rolls over so that she's lying in the grass. "All you can do is hope you die." She mutters. Her last words ring through my head…was she suicidal? I get up from the soft grass and decide to walk around a bit, knowing that Morgan is still awake.

I've gotten a good distance away from the camp when I hear something behind me. I turn on my heels but there's nothing there. I shrug and keep walking, but before I take the third step there's a hand over my mouth.

"Come on girly." I hear Hawkins whisper in my ear. This is bad.

**. . .**

I'm tied to a tree by the cornucopia. Hawkins is sharpening his knife on a rock near me. Alder, Inxy and Echo are talking; they're in a circle on my other side.

"So…Hawkins, why are you guys just keeping me tied to a tree?" I ask him. He looks up from the knife.

"So we can lure your little friends." He turns back to the knife. "And the big, scary one." He mumbles the last part, it makes me smile. "So you can just sit and wait." He tells me.

"It'd make me less nervous if you'd put down the knife." I smirk at him, he glowers at me. "What? It would." I shrug.

"Okay then." He puts the knife down and smiles at me. "If I can't make you squirm, I'll make Nickel." I can feel my face flush. The other careers are staring at him now.

"W-what?" I ask, he puts his hand on my knee. "God damn it." I mutter. He laughs and retracts his hand.

"Well, you can't fight if you're tied up." He makes a pretty good point.

"Whatever, I'll have my 'little friends' kill you when they get here." I smile back. He goes back to sharpening his knife on the rock. Just then I see a flash or brown hair on the other end of the clearing. I can't stop the grin that spreads across my face as I see Bracken and Morgan's blue eyes. I just hope Hawkins didn't see them. "So…how long until you just kill me?" I finally ask.

"I don't know." He shrugs. "Until after your allies are dead." I nod.

I feel so helpless; I don't have a knife in my belt or anything. I can't talk my way out of this and Nickel can't send me anything, seeing as I can't free my arms. I rest my head against the tree and sigh heavily. This was going to be a long few days. There was no way they were going to run in and save me without a while of planning.

** . . .**

Night was falling and Inxy had already fallen asleep.

"Alright girly, I'll be staying up and watching you." Hawkins says with a smirk.

"Do you even know my name? 'Cause it isn't girly." I snap back at him. He chuckles and sits down next to me.

"Yeah, I know your name…Penny." He hesitates on actually saying my name. "Do you even remember mine? A famous girl like you would never even be bothered with me." He says the last sentence quietly.

"Of course I know your name…Hawkins." He gives me a weak smile. "And I'm not famous, that's all Morgan. I didn't win." I tell him. His face goes to surprise.

"No one told me who won…so I assumed it was you." He said. I shake my head and look down.

"I killed myself so that Morgan could live." I say, I hear a surprised sound come from him.

"Well, how did that work out for you?" He smiles at me. "I know I'm going to die again Penny, I just hope you guys make it out when I do." He continues. The shock on my face must have showed. "You know, not all careers are heartless killers Pen." And with that he turns over and begins snoring softly.

**(An: Penny is taken prisoner by careers! Oooooh! Lol. I know, all my chapters lately have sucked…idk why that is, maybe it's all the projects for the end of the year…but still, SORRY!)**


	20. Getting by

**Getting by**

**-Morgan-**

"Where is she?" I awake to Bracken yelling. The frightened boy in his clutch utters some words before being thrown against a tree.

"Stop." I say, it's quiet and weak, but it's enough to stop the punch headed for Olin's gut.

"Morgan! Do you know where Penny is?" Bracken asks me. I shake my head a little and he hits a tree in frustration. "Dang! The careers probably have her…maybe she's dead…" he sinks down into the wet grass next to me. "Just another one I couldn't save." Just has he mutters these words into his hands a small silver parachute comes down from the sky. Olin jumps to open it.

"It's…a slip of paper." Olin says in disappointment. Bracken forcefully takes the slip from his hand.

"_Penny Hedge is alive_." He reads. "So, the careers have her captive…or she left the alliance?" Bracken wonders outloud.

"Knowing her? She probably left the alliance." Olin huffs. I glare at the boy with all my strength.

"No…she wouldn't have done that to us." I snap. Bracken looks at me in surprise and Olin glares back. "She went for a walk…" I continue more quietly. Bracken gets up and grabs the backpack.

"Then let's go save her." He says. He helps me up and we walk in the direction of the cornucopia, I couldn't care less if Olin was following us or not. The only reason we kept him in this alliance was for Penny's sake.

**. . .**

We finally reached the edge of the forests to see the careers fire. Tried to a tree on the other side of the clearing is the familiar girl with golden hair.

"There she is…" mumbled Bracken. Hawkins was sitting next to her, sharpening a knife with a rock. It looked like they were having a conversation. "We need to formulate a plan." Bracken goes a bit further into the forest and begins to set up camp behind some bushes. I go and sit with him while we wait for Olin to catch up.

"So, what's our plan?" Olin asks, a little too loudly. Bracken 'shoosh's him. "Sorry." Olin bows his head and nibbles on some bark.

"Since everybody likes you the least," Bracken begins. Olin tries to protest but get's cut off. "You will be the one to light the fire that will distract the careers and Morgan and I will go save Penny." Olin pouts against a tree. "Alright, I see we all agree." Bracken stopped trying to force speech on me a while ago.

"What's up with Morgan?" Olin asks after about an hour of eating bark.

"I'd advise you not to ask that as neither I nor Penny knows and Morgan won't tell us." He answers. I can feel Olins eyes boring into me as I pull up the grass by my feet and watch it fly away in the wind.

**. . .**

The sun was setting and everyone was getting settled into sleep. Olin was snoring softly. Bracken had volunteered for watch, even though he knows full well I won't be sleeping for the rest of my life.

"Why?" Bracken whispered next to me. I didn't reply. "Why did you leave me?" I can hear in his voice that he's crying. "I refuse to believe that it's too late." He bows his head and punches the ground. His quiet sobs fill the air for a while before I build up the sanity to form words.

"What's it like?" my voice blended with the wind but Bracken caught it. His head shoots up and he looks at me intensely. "To be dead…" I finish as quiet as before, I can't seem to muster up the strength to speak louder or say anything more. It took so much of me to just get my general point across.

"Honestly?" He leans back on the tree and sighs. "Pure hell, I can't believe you gave up so quickly." I said nothing. "You were there, in heaven…you faded in and out, and that's how I know you gave up on living." He was right, I totally did. I refused to eat, I just wanted to shrivel up and die. I give a small nod in response. He gives up on talking and we settle into silence.

The game makers must have heard our comments on the whole island theory. The anthem plays and dead tribute's faces begin to flash across the sky. I find myself giving off a little whimper when the finishing anthem plays.

"We'll start the plan in the morning." Bracken mumbles. "You take watch Morgan." He rolls over and his breathing steadies.

I watch the wind whistle through the leaves on the trees and lift the ones on the ground. The breeze is cutting through my jacket and right into my bones, I'm too consumed by nightmares and haunting faces to care. They sit in my head and plead me to spare them the pain and hurt, I don't. I'd rather die a thousand deaths than have this burden on my shoulders for the rest of my life. Their cries feel like a noose, tied around my neck, and all I have to do is take that step. I feel trapped in my own body, my own mind, I can never express these feelings to Bracken, Nini or Penny…none of them would understand, especially not Calibur.

I watch as the sun rises over the horizon. I keep my gaze on the orange sphere burning into my pupils. If I went blind right now, I wouldn't care, at least then I wouldn't have to witness any more injustice. Something inside of me snapped right then and there. I suddenly wanted revenge on the Capitol citizens, and everyone else that had anything to do with the games. I watched Bracken stir and felt a thirst in me…it was a thirst I'd never felt before, a want to spill blood. Bracken sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"Let the rescue begin" he said hesitantly.

**An: OH! Minus the title, pov marker and author's note 1,000 words! BOOYAH!**


	21. The fight

**The fight**

**~Penny~**

I open my eyes to the bright sunrise piercing through the trees to the west side of the meadow I've been situated in. I see Inxy trying to use a canteen as a mirror, she's combing her hair with a make-shift brush and checking her complexion.

"Are you kidding me?" Alder sounds annoyed as takes the canteen from her and she lets out a squeal of surprise and protest.

"Alder! I'm making sure I look pretty." She tries to grab it from him but he holds it out of reach and scoffs while she jumps to get it.

"What? You want to look pretty when you die?" She stops nagging and blinks once, stunned by his words. They stare at each other for a while, his is an icy glare, hers is filled with confusion and surprise.

"Knock it off!" Echo's voice, for lack of a better word, echo's though the meadow. She flings her knife at the tree next to the pair. Hawkins is snapped awake. I found myself laughing at the scene. "What are you laughing at _three_?" She spits venomously at me. I smile up at her and she grabs me by the hair, yanking me up. I scream in pain, unable to stop her as my hands are still tied around the trunk of a tree.

"Echo! Let her go!" Hawkins says, his voice is a deep, low grumble. She lets go of me and I fall back into the grass with a 'thud'. "Thank you." He goes back to whatever he was doing. I'm not scared of her, I never will be afraid of these four people.

Echo thinks she's all that but she isn't, there must be something she's compensating for with that big attitude.

Inxy is just a dumb blonde who only cares about appearances.

Alder has already accepted his imminent death and is still in the careers just for the heck of it.

Hawkins won't admit how much of a softy he really is, watching him interact with the others, he's a stone-cold killer. When interacting with me he had a softer tone to his voice and a sweeter edge to his words.

"Guys!" Alder calls from at least fifty feet away. "Look, a fire!" He points to where a pillar of smoke is rising from the tree-tops. Echo grabs hold of her hunting knife she threw at a tree earlier on.

"Let's go kill the poor idiot." She sneers. "Hawkins, you continue to watch…_her_." And without another word she's off into the forest towards the fire.

Alder grabs Inxy by the arm and pushes her to follow Echo's lead.

"Why not bring you along?" I ask Hawkins, not really caring either way. "You're probably the strongest of them all." He scoffs and chucks a knife into the dirt.

"Echo is the leader, plus Inxy would do a horrible job of guarding and Alder would snap your neck; no problem." He explains, digging out his knife only to create a new hole with the tip. We sit in silence for a while and I think about how perfect a time it would be to rescue me now…hint, hint! But no one runs into the meadow, no knight in shining armor…or kids in jumpsuits, rather.

Finally, after about ten minutes of just sitting in the grass, the others emerge from the forest with a scared boy in tow.

"You dumbass!" I growl at him. Olin cowers away from me. "What the hell were you thinking? Lighting a fire!" I try to smack him upside his head but my hands are still tied down. Echo throws him at my feet and I fight to kick him.

"Hawkins, tie him up too." Echo points to the opposite side of the meadow. Hawkins and Alder tie him up, close to where I saw Morgan and Bracken.

"If we make it out of this, Olin," I scream at him. "I swear to god I'll kill you!"

"Why? I thought we were on the same side." He calls back.

"Because you're stupid! How can you light a fire when you know they're close!" I think I see him smile at this. "Your stupidity could have cost me my life."

"I don't think stupidity is a good reason to kill Penny." He sneers. The careers seem to be very amused by us shouting across a meadow at each other.

"It's the Hunger Games, Olin." I say just loud enough so he can catch it. "You kill just to kill." He shuts up after this and Echo nods in agreement. Hawkins sits down in his usual spot, next to me, and Alder takes up bugging Inxy.

I glare at Olin until I notice movement behind him. I'm about it say something but then I see Bracken wink at me. I close my mouth and put my head down just in time to hear Alder screaming.

I watch as I see Bracken hand Olin a knife and Morgan comes out from the woods. Both sets of allies charge at each other as I stay tied to a tree. I see Bracken and Alder battling for who's on top of the other, I see Olin and Inxy brawling it out. And last but not least I see Echo tugging Morgan by the hair. Morgan reaches her hand, which hold the knife, up and lops off the hair in Echo's hands before turning to fight.

I close my eyes and silently curse myself for not being able to fight. I refuse to open my eyes as I hear screams of anger and pain. I don't dare open my eyes, even as I hear other tributes enter the fight. I know most of the screams I'm hearing not the one's of just my allies or the careers. I just hope no one decides to slit my throat. I feel something splatter against my face I just know its blood, I want to vomit at the thought.

Once I finally open my eyes I see the carnage, bloody bodies and snapped necks.

Along with four lone figures.

**An: hey guys! I made a vid (timed power point .) of the characters from this story, if you'd like to Beta it before I convert it and post it on YouTube then PM me your email and I'll send you it. The power point includes all major characters, songs (two of which are written and sung by me .) and pictures of the characters. **


	22. Come home to me

**Come home to me**

_Once I finally open my eyes I see the carnage, bloody bodies and snapped necks._

_Along with four lone figures._

I can't see their faces, all I can see is their outline. The tallest is standing over a dead body, the second tallest is checking one to make sure they're dead. The other two are the same height…and they're still fighting.

The fog lightens and I can see Morgan and Echo still going at it. The tallest figure begins running at me and I brace myself for the knife against my neck, but instead it cuts the rope that confines my hands.

"Penny! Are you okay?" Bracken asks, I nod weakly and he pulls me to my feet but then stops suddenly. "Penny…are you sure." That's when I feel the throbbing pain on my neck and my eyelids suddenly feel overweight. "NO! Keep your eyes open Penny! DO NOT CLOSE YOUR EYES!" I struggle with processing his request. I reach my hand up to where the source of the pain is to find an abnormally large lump. "You've been stung by a tracker jacker…it's bad, just stay awake!" I try to nod but I find my head rolling over to my shoulder and my eyelids threatening to close again. The cannons start going off for the carnage of limbs before me. "OLIN! HELP MORGAN THEN BOTH OF YOU GET OVER HERE!" I know the second one more cannon goes off the winners will be declared, I'll be damned if that cannon is mine. He sets me down again and starts inspecting the swelling. My eyelids begin to close further and out of my peripheral vision I see a flash of golden hair…then his face.

"Nickel?" I attempt to lift my arm but find it limp. The trees are laughing at me and the wind begins mocking me, the grass looks like glass and everything has a shiny tint.

"No, You're hallucinating Penny." The voice is Bracken's. Nickel's lips are moving, but they're saying something I can't hear.

The last thing I see before my eyes close is Nickel's smile, not such a bad way to die, I think.

**. . .**

"Penny!" I hear a voice I can't pin. "Can you hear me?" I can't open my eyes or move at all, I'm paralyzed. "Well, her vitals are fine but she shows no reaction to any medication we give her, she won't even respond to the doctors." The voice is now talking to someone else. There is no other noise, a door creaks open then shuts. I feel some one taking my hand in their own.

"Penny…I don't know if you're in there, but if you are…please, come home to me. I love you." He rests his head on my hand and I want nothing more than to call out to him, but no noise is made. I recall my last few moments in the arena; I wonder who the last cannon was…

I helplessly lay in this bed, which I'm guessing is in the hospital. I don't know how much time passed but the hand on mine never leaves, he talks to me periodically, asking me…begging me to speak, move, to do anything.

**. . .**

**~Nickel~**

"We've been hoping for long enough Nickel…we'll have to pull the plug if she continues to be unresponsive." The doctor tells me, I look down at her. I haven't left her side for a matter of days. "We've postponed the winning interview, if this keeps up then we'll have to announce her death." He says calmly.

"She's not dead!" I snap, gritting my teeth at him. "You will NOT pull the plug on her! She's a fighter and she'll make it through!" I snarl. He backs away from me and I look back at Penny. "She…she has to." I mumble weakly. Her head tilts slightly and her lips part. I jump up and hold her head in my hands; she looks like she's trying to say something. "Penny? Penny! What is it?" I ask desperately. The doctor comes to the other side of her bed and I glare at him.

"Ah- I…Nickel?" she stutters out quietly. Tears start falling from my eyes.

"I'm here Penny! I'm here!" I pull her hand up to my chest and hug it tightly. Her eyes flutter open and land on me.

"N-Nickel…" her eyes close again and her fingers lock around my hand. My tears are making my vision blurry but my smile is still wide. My Penny, my fighter, She's back. The doctor furiously scribbles notes on his clipboard before leaving wordlessly. I sit back down in the chair I've lived in for the past few days.

"I'm here Penny…I'm here…I'll always be here." I say. I've said so many encouraging words, but to be honest they're mainly for my own sanity. "You promised me once Pen, that you'd never leave me again…don't leave me now." I sigh heavily. "Just keep trying." I know what she did today must have taken a lot of effort; the doctors didn't even believe she'd ever recover, but I know my Penny better than that. I knew she's make it out of this.

I looked around the room at the beeping machines and the completely white walls, I hated the Capitol hospitals, they made it look like death itself. The doctors here are worse with their colorful hair, eyes, skin and make up look horrible against the all white uniforms.

I brush back hair from Penny's face, she looks so pained, as if she's having a nightmare but from the machines I see that she's awake. I sigh and rest my head on her hand, like I've been doing for a while now.

"Once you wake up you know you'll be shipped to the interview." I chuckle a bit and I swear I saw the corner of her mouth twitch upwards. "You know, I'm so proud of you…I couldn't have done what you did." I kiss her forehead.

My angel has to come back to me soon.

**An: Sorry I left it on a cliffhanger last time. Lol, but yeah…GO TO MY PROFILE AND VOTE FOR A WINNER FOR MY SYOT! Only 3 ppl have voted so far…**


	23. Waking up

**Waking up**

**~Penny~**

I finally opened my eyes and looked over to see Nickel resting his head on my hand. I looked up to the bag above my head to find it empty. I tapped Nickel on the shoulder and he slowly lifted his head, his eyes were red and filled with unshed tears. He took one look at me and a grin broke out on his face.

"My god, they said you'd never wake up." He pulled me into a hug I found was hard to return due to the numbness in my arms. "I almost lost hope." He sighs and looks up at the empty bag. "Once I figured out that was morphling and not medicine…I kind of emptied it." He blushes while admitting this. "You'll be able to move in a few hours, than the prep team will come in for attack." He jokes, I smile a bit at this. He takes my hand and kisses it.

"Nickel?" I ask, biting back the pain from my throat. He smiles at me, urging me to go on.

"Who…who died?" I ask him his face falls and he looks at the ground.

"Look, the interview will be tonight and…it'll be a surprise." He mutters before patting my hand then leaving to get my prep team and Loka.

**. . .**

After the prep-team is done plucking me like a bird they begin applying make-up, all I can think about is who died. They do my hair in an elegant braid I've only seen during interviews and parades. That's when Loka entered, her eyes were red and puffy as she pulled me in for a hug.

"I'm so glad you made it out!" she said, crying. I hugged her back and we stood there for a few minutes too long than I'd like to admit. She finally pulled out a dress for me, it was long and flowing, it reached my ankles, and it was a deep emerald green and had no sleeves. She put it on me and I couldn't help but appreciate how full it made me look.

"Will Olin be wearing a similar color tux?" I asked, trying to make casual conversation with the weeping woman. She refused to make eye contact with me.

"I…I don't know." She answered, her voice cracking at the last word. I nodded and gave up anymore attempts at small talk. She was eventually done with the finishing touches. My eyelashes were tipped with emerald green hearts and there was an artful design from the corner of my eye to the edge of my temple in the same hue as my dress. The eye shadow she had put on me was lime green.

"So, I guess green is the theme?" I joked. She nodded mutely, still looking at the floor. I decided she was just emotional about having to see the same people die twice.

**. . .**

"Ladies and gentlemen! Our winners!" Caesar announced. I turned to Nickel, freaked out. He smiled encouragingly at me and pushed me forward. "Penny Hedge." I sit down on one of four chairs placed in front of him. "Bracken Justice." Bracken walks out with a deep blue tuxedo with a light dusting of blue eye shadow over his eyelids, he isn't smiling. "Morgan Tresean." Morgan comes out with a blank look in those ice blue eyes, they almost look black because of how large the pupils are. She's wearing a deep blue dress that's cut mid thigh and makes her look like a pixie. Her makeup is more elegant than mine, trying to hide her pained expression. I noticed her cropped short hair, it used to go to her last rib, now it just reached her ear lobe. "And last but not least…" I look to the entrance of the stage in anticipation to see Olin's tuxedo, now sure it was going to match mine. "Echo Nightshade." My heart dropped though the floor and my stomach began doing flip-flops. _No…Olin can't be dead._ I looked to Morgan for confirmation of what I just heard but she only stared ahead of her, Bracken nodded and looked at his feet. A smiling Echo entered the stage in a bright pink dress and eight inch heels. She skipped over to the last available chair and sat in it, flashing a grin of pearly white teeth. Her smile made me sick, I wanted to kill her right here and now. "So, Penny, you get the first question." I looked from Echo to Caesar and nodded. "How did Nickel take the whole quarter quell?" He asked.

"Oh, we haven't really spoken about that." It's like an unspoken agreement that neither of us would like to relive it.

"Okay, next question. Bracken, how will you spend your days after this victory…any girls you'll be with?" Caesars eyebrow rises as he asks his question. I can see Bracken visibly tense and Morgan's eyes show a little hint of panic but it's gone in a second.

"Uh…No. I doubt there will ever be a girl in my life." Bracken avoids eye contact with anyone and his knee is bobbing up and down.

"Oh, and why not?" Caesar asks.

"Because I just doubt I will find the girl for me." Bracken blurts it all out in one breath and urges Caesar to stop pestering him. Caesar turns to Morgan.

"So Morgan, what will life be like for you back in district ten?" Caesar asks, she just stares blankly at him and shrugs. He shifts in his seat nervously before turning to Echo. "So Echo, are you proud of this victory." He asks her.

"Well Caesar," I tune out the rest of her speech on how people will look down on her but she'll have to tough through it. I found myself rolling my eyes as the two bantered back and forth playfully. I reached across Bracken and took Morgan's hand. She looked up; her eyes had a glassy look to them. I smiled at her and she blinked in response, I heard a defeated sigh from Bracken before I retracted back to my seat.


	24. Authors note

**An: Sorry guys! I know I haven't updated in a looooong time, but I'm working on making 'Together we run' into a graphic novel (A pretty badly drawn one but still!) So…..yeah…I'll try to update soon!**


	25. on my way

**On my way**

I slump down onto the couch and am joined by a silent Nickel. I watch the way his shoulders slouch forward as he looks at me; his eyes are full of regret, pity and sorrow.

"Look, Penny, I-" he starts

"Don't…don't you dare even start." I cut him off harshly, he flinches. I glare hatefully at the wall. "I wish that bitch was dead…she deserves to die." I mumble. "She should have died!" I scream the last part. Someone clears their throat from behind us and I turn around to see Bracken and Morgan, they were holding hands, more like Bracken was holding onto her hand.

"Echo will be here soon." Bracken informs me, making his way to the other couch, dragging an unresponsive Morgan with him.

We sit in silence for what seems like eternity before the elevator dings. Nickel has me cuddled up beside him, with my legs reaching over his lap and my head on his shoulder.

"Oh well look at those two lovey-dovey birds." Echo makes a disgusted face and sits on an overly plush arm-chair. "Let's get this meeting over with!" She snaps.

"Okay…" Nickel starts on this 'meeting' about what will happen on the victory tour. "So, there will be no special dinners for the victors' district, it will all be at the Capitol." He explains the special circumstances of there being more than one victor.

"So…Can I speak to you in the hall, Penny." Echo asks. I reluctantly get up and march into the hall, with Echo on my heels.

"What?" I spit at her, clearly aware that the others can hear us.

"Well, I was wondering if you'd step aside." She looks at me innocently.

"Step aside from what?" My voice sounds like I'm threatening her.

"From Nickel." I stare at her, dumbfounded. "Look, it's not anything personal, it's just that he's a really cute guy and I think he deserves someone less…how do I put this…" She looks at the ceiling and taps her index finger against her chin. "Broken." Her last word feel like a punch in the gut. She gives me a sickly sweet smile "Thanks." And skips back into the room. I stand still, staring at where she used to be, rage filling me. I hear a crash from the other room and run to make sure she didn't do anything. What I see next shocks me.

"You vile bitch! Get out of here! You should have been the one to die!" Morgan screams, there's a broken vase lying next to Echo, who is on the floor. "You think you can push us around? We're not in the arena anymore! This isn't your game anymore. This is the real world, the world where you and your friends have driven me to the point where if I kill you I won't give a shit!" She breaths heavily before sitting back down on the couch and letting the glassy layer cover the rage in her eyes. Echo springs up and runs to the elevator.

"You're all a bunch of freaks!" She yells before she disappears.

"Wow." Bracken breaths. That was the most emotion I've ever seen in Morgan since the quell.

"I think that wraps up this meeting." Nickel says awkwardly. Bracken gets up and says goodbye before taking Morgan's hand, and with that they're gone. "You okay?" Nickel turns to me.

"No…I'm not okay, he's not okay, she's not okay…none of us will ever be okay." I say before brushing past him to go to my room, passing Cremai along the way.

I flop onto the bed, burying my face into the mattress. I hear the creak of the door opening and closing behind me. I hear footsteps, they aren't Nickels…they sound familiar…_OLIN!_ I flip over, expecting to see the boy who has become like an annoying younger brother to me, only to see a surprised Avox.

"Sorry to scare you…your footsteps sounded like Olin's…" The boy nods in understanding and sets a dress on the dresser. He gives me an apologetic smile before leaving the room. I plant my face into my hands and let out a choked sob. I feel Nickel's presence enter and sit beside me, the bed sinks towards him. He begins rubbing my back and pulls me against him; I continue to sob into his shirt.

Eventually my broken sobs turn to quiet sniffles. Nickel is still there, comforting me and rubbing my back.

"Why don't you go to sleep." He suggests. I nod and we both lay down, he tucks me in before cuddling me into himself.

"Nickel…" My voice breaks horribly. He pulls my chin up with his finger to look at me. "do you think I'm…broken?" I ask, remembering me and Echo's conversation. He looks at me in shock.

"As long as you kept your promise of coming home…you're perfect to me." He smiles weakly, then kisses my forehead and closes his eyes.

I find sleep hard, the images of Olin and Janni are worse than ever.

_Echo smiles at me with a bloody knife in hand, the wind violently ripping through me as I look on the ground to see them all…Olin, Janni, Nickel, Morgan and Bracken, all dead. Echo kicks Morgan's dead body out of her way before coming over to me. Her hand is gripping the knife and the other is on my throat. The knife is trailing down my jaw line._

"_I'm going to have to ask you to step aside sweetie, you're broken and no one will ever love you, Nickel doesn't even look at you the same way anymore." She coos in that annoying voice. I can't move. I can't snap back at her, no matter how much I want to. She smiles a toothy smile and I see blood-stained, needle sharp teeth. The new gash in my face is bleeding a ridiculous amount of blood._

_Suddenly I'm swimming in a pool of dark red blood; I can see their bodies slowly rising to the top. I hand is placed on my head and I watch in horror as Echo holds me under until everything goes black._

**An: Okay, so I need you guys to go on my page and vote for which EverLark AU I should write next (as this fanfic will be ending soon.)**

**Also, the horribly drawn and slowly paced graphic novel can be found on my deviantart page, my username is Momonster**


	26. Broken hearts

**Broken hearts**

**(Morgan and Bracken's Return home)**

**~Bracken~**

After the event on floor three I tow Morgan back to our floor. We pass by everyone else, I ignore them all. I head straight to my bedroom, I haven't trusted leaving Morgan alone since her little snap in the arena. She wakes up screaming in the middle of the night, even with me holding her; I only hope Calibur will be more help. She sits on the bed and her head rolls to the side, she doesn't even have enough strength to keep her head upright.

"Morgan…you're killing me here." I say, adjusting her so she's sitting against the headboard. She shows no recognition. I sigh and pull her into my lap so I can braid her hair. "I miss you…Calibur will be so devastated once he sees what you've become." Her eyes widen at the mention of his name and I see the corner of her mouth twist, but it's all gone as soon as it appeared. "You miss him don't you?" I ask, she nods slightly. "Are you excited to see him?" She nods again.

"Do you miss Daven?" She counters quietly. I can't help the smirk that spreads across my face. She laughs flatly and dryly, it isn't her old giggle, but it's improvement.

"I do miss him." I relpy. Morgan was the first and only person to ever peg my correct sexuality. It's just another reason why she was closer to me than Nini. "I miss him a lot." I sigh and separate her hair into three different pieces and begin to weave them together. I take three ribbons from the dresser and weave one in with each third of hair. Morgan begins singing quietly, it helps with her sanity.

_Some things we don't talk about  
Rather do without  
And just hold the smile  
Falling in and out of love  
Ashamed and proud of  
Together all the while_

You can never say never  
While we don't know when  
But time and time again  
Younger now than we were before

I missed her voice. She used to sing while tending to the cattle back in district ten, they would always crowd around just to hear her voice. She could stop stampedes by just singing to them. It made me cry just to hear her sing once more.

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me  
Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded  
Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?  
Just a little late, you found me, you found me!_

She switched songs every time she forgot what came next, that or it was what she was feeling. It broke my heart every time she sung sad songs.

I finished braiding her hair, it had blue, purple and pink ribbons entwined in it. Usually she'd protest that she wanted blue, green and turquoise, but she didn't have any fight in her anymore.

"Come on, let's go to bed." I say. I tuck her into bed and kiss her forehead before leaving the room.

"How is she?" Freeda, her mentor, asks. I scoff in the woman's direction. She never believed Morgan could win.

"She's farther gone than she should be." I reply curtly. Gripping tightly to the back of a chair. "I wish I could help her more." I mumble, defeated.

"Time heals all wounds." Freeda places her hand on my back.

"Yes, but she'll always have the scars!" I counter. Freeda nods in understanding then walks out of the room.

I hear a high-pitched scream from down the hall and run to Morgan's aid. I open the door to see her sitting up and clutching the sheets so tight her knuckles were turning white.

"Shhhh." I tell her, stroking her unraveling braid. "It's okay." I tell her. She shakes her head and begins to sob into my shirt. "What happened?" Morgan is the kind of person where talking about it helps her.

"Echo killed him! She killed Calibur then May…" she trails off and goes back to sobbing. I continue to tell her none of it happened and it was all a dream.

She falls asleep once again, but I don't leave her side this time.

**~Morgan~**

I wake up the next morning, having minimal nightmares. I get up to see Bracken on the other side of the bed, the poor guy tries his hardest to help me, but he just can't. I feel bad for him, I try so hard to make him think he's helping.

I get out of the bed to see a dress put out on the dresser. I grab it and go into the bathroom to put it on. Once I've slid it over my head I look in the mirror it look at it. It's grey and long sleeved; it ends right below my knees. I look sadly at my severed hair. The goo my stylist had put on it made it grow some but only to my shoulders, it still isn't the length it used to be. I decide to pull it into a pony tail but have the band low in my hair instead of close to my head.

I exit the bathroom to see wide-eyed Bracken.

"Morgan! You did your own hair…and clothes." He acts like this is a big thing. I nod shyly and walk over to the dresser to a box of make-up and apply eye-liner. I guess I applied more than I should have because my eyes are surrounded by darkness…_Just how I feel_ I think to myself.

**. . .**

The train is just as I remember, the décor is just a bit too bright and the furniture is just a bit too plush. I run my hand over one of the velvet chairs before settling for sitting on the window sill. I wrap my arms around my lags and rest my temple on the cool glass.

"You know, that's not very lady-like." Ialla scolded me. I ignored her Capitol accent and continued to stare out to window. Penny and Nickel were sitting on the couch. Echo was sipping hot chocolate and sitting in a plush chair.

I waited for about an hour, never moving or speaking, until finally it was Echo's stop.

"See you all on the tour." She chirped as she skipped off the train with her mentor. I glared at her and she returned it until the train began moving again.

"Ding dong the bitch is gone." I head Penny mumble.

"Still think she should have died." I say, loud enough for everyone to turn to me. "Olin was a good person…" I trail off as I lose my voice once more. No one speaks for a few more minutes before deciding I'm done and returning to their conversation.

Oddly enough district ten is closer to the Capitol than district three so it stops home first. I get off the window sill as soon as I see the crowd of happy people. I walk over to Penny and give her a hug.

"I'll see you on the tour." She whispers. I nod and turn to Nickel, he holds out his hand for me to shake it but I pull him into a hug instead.

I step off the train to hear the roar of the crowd. I look over the crowd in search of my parents and May. I see Calibur and my heart begins to race in a way I've forgotten it could. He makes his way to the front of the crowd and pulls me into a hug I find is hard to return. When he pulls back he puts a hand on either side of my face and presses his lips against mine. I feel like I'm in heaven until he pulls away and I feel as empty as I did before.

"Were are my parents and May?" I ask quietly. His smile drops and his face flushes. He takes my hands and I look into his blue eyes.

"Morgan…there was a fire…"

**An: Hope y'all like the soooooper long chapter! Next up is Penny going home.**


	27. I'm coming home

**I'm coming home**

_I'm coming home  
I'm coming home  
Tell the World I'm coming home  
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday  
I know my kingdom awaits and they've forgiven my mistakes  
I'm coming home, I'm coming home  
Tell the World that I'm coming  
Home_

I sit on the train after Morgan and Bracken got off. I saw a boy sweep Morgan off her feet and kiss her; she showed emotion too…I'll have to call her later. I snuggle closer to Nickel's side, burying my face in his shoulder. Echo was right, I am broken, and we all are. I used to be the girl who would bully my fears into submission, and yet, here I am, snuggling next to the boy I love, completely resting my sanity and well-being into fate's hands. I'm scared to death and I can't do anything about it. I have to face that Nickel is the only thing in this world that is for me to live for. I wonder if Janni and Olin are friends…where ever they are. I didn't notice I was crying until Nickel pulled my face up to meet his.

"Don't cry…please." He pleaded, wiping the tears away with his thumb. He then lightly pressed his lips to mine; it was a gentle kiss, full of love. "We're almost home." He whispered when he finally pulled away. I gave him a weak smile and a small nod before shoving my face into his chest.

"Now entering District three." The voice calls from above. I hug his arm tighter.

"It'll be okay, I was jittery on my return home too." He tells me, stroking my hair. I nod, remembering the second he got off the train I had tackled him and covered him in kisses.

"Except no one is there, waiting for me." I whisper, not loud enough for him to hear.

Pretty soon we make it to our home district. The doors open and there's a sea of people, no one erupts into cheering as they did for Nickel, instead they all just stare. I stare back, I look beyond them, to the factories and houses. The outlanders are to one side of the station and the inlanders are on the other side, segregated as always. Cremai doesn't waste any time shoving us into the back of a car.

"Penny, do you have anything from your house you'd like to bring to the victors village?" she asks. I nod and direct the driver to my – old – house. I run in and grab three things.

A photo.

A sweater.

A stuffed bear.

I run back to the car and jump in. Nickel smiles sadly when he sees what I have. The photo is a picture of me, Janni, my mom and dad, smiling and happy. The sweater was Janni's favorite, her boyfriend gave it to her, and she wore it until his scent was replaced with hers. The bear was given to me by Nickel, he got it from the Capitol and gave it to me after he returned from his victory tour. Cremai rolled her eyes and the car came to a stop in the victor's village.

"Now, this one is yours, and this one is Nickel's." she pointed out two houses next to each other. I nod and enter the house, crisp white sheets covered all the furniture. I place my three items atop the table and begin pulling the coverings off of everything. Half way through Nickel enters and helps me.

"So…" he pulls me close to him by my waist. "You like the new house?" He purrs in my ear, I decide to play along.

"I don't know…it feels a bit lonely." I pretend to pout. He chuckles.

"You know my house is only used for my family." His words are an accidental slice through the atmosphere. I step out of his grasp and begin to plush the pillows. "Pen, you know what I meant." He said.

"You meant two things." I reply, keeping my tone flat. "And yes," I turn to face him. "If you so want, you can move in." His face breaks out into a smile.

Just then the door creaks open, I look to see two boys giggling in the doorway. I glance at Nickel and go to the boys.

"Hello Penny." The one on the right says.

"Hey guys, my you've gotten to be big." I say. I can't tell which one is which anymore.

"That's what Nickel says." The one on the left adds. I smile at them.

"Sirkut, Joylt, what are you guys doing here?" Nickel asks them. They giggle and run away. "They just turned twelve…" he says, an edge to his voice, I look at him to see him biting back tears.

"Maybe they won't be reaped." I offer. He shakes his head and puts his smile back on before embracing me once more.

"Have I ever told you how proud of you I am?" he asks, I coyly shake my head and attempt doe-eyes. He chuckles and gives me a chaste kiss. "Well, I am…I'm so proud of you." He rests hid forehead against mine. "I love you Penny." He whispers.

"I love you too Nickel." I reply. He smiles once more before leaning in for another kiss.

**An: Sorry this is kinda short, I'm trying to finish this story up. The next chapter will probably most likely be the Epilouge…**


	28. Last resort

**An: I was listening to "Last resort" by Papa Roach when I was writing this…It kinda goes along to it. And no, this is NOT the epilogue, I need to explain a few things first. 1. Olin's death (in this chapter) 2. Where the hell the prologue fits into this story (next chapter). The chapter after those two is the epilogue.**

**NOTICE (PLEASE READ): If you guys want there to be a sequel you have to tell me before I make the epilogue. The sequel can either be about their children or them as mentors (I'm leaning towards being mentors).**

**Last resort**

**-Morgan-**

I watched as ash flits around in the wind, I see the charred remains of where my house stood.

"I'm sorry." Was all Calibur said as he stood behind me. I hang my head and kick at a bit of charred wood.

Bracken stands beside me with a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, we'd better go to your new house." He says. I nod and let the two lead me wherever it is I'm being taken, I could really care less.

We end up on the complete other side of the village, next to Bracken's house. Calibur and Bracken set me down on a couch and start 'homing' up the building. It would never feel like home to me, not without me and May screaming at each other, not without my parents asking for just five seconds of silence. I miss them. Ialla's face appears in the door an hour after we arrive.

"There is a welcome home party taking place in a few hours." Bracken nods and follows her out of the house. Calibur sits next to me and I rest my head on his shoulder.

"It's okay to cry, you know." He tells me. I blink and shake my head.

"The tears don't come anymore." I say in a whisper.

"I'm here for you, you know that right? I'll always be here, by your side." I don't reply. I just wait until my prep team enters the house and starts talking about the bags under my eyes. They shoo Calibur out and my stylist comes in. Velar brings in a dress for me to wear; it's black and has blobs and streaks of red creeping up the bottom. Just looking at the piece of apparel makes me gag, it brings back so many blood-splattered memories. I reluctantly let them put it on me.

"Smile darling." Velar scolds and Ialla nods along. I bar my teeth in a snarl at them. Ialla shrieks and hides behind the glaring Velar.

Once Bracken and I enter the party arm in arm we're bombarded with photographers. Bracken ignores them and takes me to a table with Calibur and a few of my old friends, save Nini. I don't know what happened but Nini hasn't spoken to me since we lost contact after the first games, she hasn't spoken to Bracken either and refuses to move into his victor's house. Calibur takes my hand and smiles encouragingly at me, I don't respond. Him and our other friends – I use the term as if I wasn't mad and they'd rather be somewhere else – converse as I blankly stare at the table. Eventually Rilena comes over, she's the mean girl at school.

"So, what, are you even sane anymore?" After everyone at the table glares at her and I don't respond, I don't even move my stare. "Can you even talk?" she asks, waving her hand. I glance at her, I see Echo's face where hers should be. Blood fills my ears and I reach up to grab her arm and quickly twist it behind her back, knocking over my chair in the process.

"What do you know about pain? About being broken?" I snarl in her ear, she makes another snide remark and I yank her arm up, successfully breaking it. After I hear the satisfying 'snap' I let go and walk out of the party. The second I get out the doors I break into a sprint to the only place I can think of where no one would find me, the plains. I jump over the break in the fence and don't stop running, not until I reach the cliff at least five miles from the district. I look over at the vast area of dying grass, slumping to the ground I finally find the tears I'd prayed for since I witnessed Olin's death.

_I jumped on Echo's back as she held a knife to his throat, I could hear Bracken yelling at Penny to wake up but I couldn't leave Olin to die. I rolled her over so I was on top, knocking the knife out of her hand._

"_Get the knife Olin!" I shouted at him. He scrambled to get it but it was lost in the sea of bloody bodies. I tried as hard as I could to hold her down, he was digging her blood caked nails into my hand and was trying to bite me, her face was covered in splatters of crimson, as mine probably was. He foot came up and kicked me in the back of the knee, sending me crashing to the ground. She flipped us over and grabbed a second knife from her belt and held it to my neck, adding just enough pressure to make me lay still._

"_MORGAN!" Olin screamed as he saw us, he came charging at her._

"_NO!" My shriek filled the air as Echo lifted the knife and plunged it straight into Olin's throat, the sheer fear and pain on his face was bad enough, but his body landing next to me was too much. The trumpets blared and echo wiped his blood off of her face and smiled sickly at his body. I looked down at myself to see his fresh blood all over my shirt. Tears quickly filled my vision and dropped onto my shirt, adding new red stains from all the blood they had collected from my face. "Olin." I whisper, knowing it was useless to try and fight his fate._

That was the moment I was scarred for life.

Broken beyond repair.

Gone without any hope of return.

Broken and gone.

No one follows me, it's highly illegal and I've never left the district before. I couldn't care anymore. Being whipped in front of the entire district was the very least of my worries.

_I'm losing my sight._

_I'm losing my mind._

_Wish somebody would tell me I'm fine._

_Nothing's alright._

_Nothing is fine._

_I'm running and I'm crying._

_I'm crying._

**-'Last resort' by Papa Roach**

**An: Okay! How'd you guys like that chapter? I resolved how Olin died…in the next chapter you'll figure out the secrets to how the prologue ties in to the story.**

**NOTICE: you MUST notify me (by review) about if you want a sequel. THANK YOU!**


	29. A blood splattered past

**A blood splattered past**

**-Janni (during the 98****th**** games)-**

"Nickel! Don't hurt me! We can team up!" I pleaded my sister's boyfriend. The pain was evident in his face.

"Okay." It was a simple statement but it was my entire world. "But I refuse to be the one who kills you." He said quietly.

"Who says I'm going to die?" I spit back at him. He turns to me with a not very amused face.

"You're forgetting who here is armed." He says, tapping his spear and turning back to the berry bush.

"The games changed you." I mutter under my breath. We never really got along very well in the first place but I put up with him for Penny's sake. I did a lot for Penny's sake.

"I do what I have to if I want to live." He countered. "But face it…two careers are still alive…we're not going to make it out of here…neither of us." He concluded, never turning to look at me.

A cannon rang through the air, causing birds to flutter away.

"Four left." I muttered.

"We're next." Nickel finally turns to face me. The bushes begin to rustle and Nickel's eyes widen. "RUN!" He screams just as Casper shows his evil face. I grab my pack and break into a sprint for my life. I knew in this second that we were both doomed, I was still determined to prolong my death as long as possible.

For Penny's sake.

_We just keep run, run, run, run, running on_

_On our own_

_We just keep run, run, run, run, running on_

_Until your soul falls to the ground_

_We'll go against all we believed in once_

_They'll keep on come, come, come, come, coming for us_

_Until we fall_

_At least I'll have you_

_To fall with_

An old song from our home played in my head as we dashed through the forested land. He looked at me; his eyes were full of worry and doubt. The birds fell silent as we raced against the ticking clock of our own death. I could just see myself as an avox; my thoughts were ripped away from me as branches split open fresh wounds all over my face. We didn't have time to slow down, we couldn't. So we just kept running until the ground fell from under our feet we were trapped, death may have won this time.

"Nickel!" I screamed for him and held out my hand for him, he grabbed for it. But it was too late. _If only we could get to the forcefeild!_ I thought bitterly as my face landed in the dirt.

"We have you now three!" Diamond spat at me. NO! I can't die! I need to get home to Penny! She's only fifteen, I promised!

I promised!

Diamond smiled wickedly and raised her sword. She brought it down onto my head. The last thing I saw was Nickel's spear going through her heart.

"Janni! No! DON'T DIE ON ME!" was the last thing I heard before everything went black.

**(after the 99****th**** games)**

I sit in the all white room, it's like sitting on a cloud. A boy came in, he looked scared and frantic, he asked me if I'd seen a girl named Morgan.

"Janni?" I turn around to find Penny, she's grown so much. I gather her into a hug before quickly letting her go.

"Why are you here?" I demanded angrily. She shrugged.

"I got reaped." She said nonchalantly, my eyes widened.

"Did you survive the bloodbath?" I ask, frantic. She nods and I let out a sigh of relief.

"I was in the final two." She says, with a small smile on her face.

"You did your best, were they a career?" I ask.

"No, the girl from ten…I stabbed myself so Morgan could win." She mumbles. I grab her shoulders.

"Why? You have so much life ahead of you!" I almost scream.

"No I don't! Nickel practically lives in the Capitol and you're gone…" she trails off as a few tears escape her eyes.

I look into her eyes and kiss her forehead but my lips never land, it's like she disappeared in my arms. I feel a few tears escape myself. She was revived.

I slump back against the cloud wall, this is the most boring and sad place in the world…some heaven…

**(After the 100****th**** games)**

I'm taking a nap when I hear someone gasp for breath.

"Janni?" A boy's voice calls. I look up to see Olin, I had tutored him in math the year before I was reaped.

"Olin? What are you doing here?" I question. He falls on his knees and begins sobbing.

"Echo won?" He sobs. I don't know what he's talking about. I hate peeking in on the alive world, it makes me sad.

"What? Olin! What happened?" I ask.

"I was reaped for the ninety-ninth games…and died, but then we were brought back to life and put in for the quell…it was down to the final five, four victors were allowed…I thought it would be us…" he trails off as he begins sobbing again.

"Who won?" I ask. The boy won't stop drying so I dig my hands into the floor and open it up to see the boy who was frantic a while back carrying a brunette girl onto a hovercraft while peacekeepers carry an unconscious Penny. I want to scream out to her but then I see the light brunette girl standing over Olin's body, smiling. The brunette girl was screaming Olin's name along with a long string of profanities at the other girl.

"Morgan…" Olin whispers behind me. "I died saving her." I scoff a bit and he turns to me with wide eyes.

"She must be worth saving…Penny died for her, you died for her…" I don't continue as I glare at the crying brunette.

"Don't hate her…she's Penny's best friend…plus, no one deserves to die." Olin points out. "Not to mention that she isn't mentally stable anymore." He mutters while going to sit against a wall. I nod and close the clouds. "You should really look down onto her more, you'd see a lot." He says. I nod and reopen to floor so I can watch my little sister grow up…without me.

**An: :D how'd you guys like that?**

**NOTICE: I WILL be doing a sequel! I'm still trying to decide on the name…if you have any suggestions then tell me! But if I don't get one better than "The screams all sound the same" then that will be the title (yes it's a line from a song…) I'm also thinking about "The broken screams", "The broken pleads", or "Broken children"…VOTE OR SUGGEST!**

**I'm also trying to decide if that was the epilogue or not…**


	30. Epilogue

**An: The Sequel's first chapter will be up by the time this one goes up, I've decided on 'Broken children' (the beginning will be a bit gut-wrenching…as well as the rest of the story. I have plans… MUAHAHA! Ever notice how your favorite characters always seem to die? (Ex: Finnick – THG, Al and Will – Divergent etc…) YUP! BIG, BIG PLANS!)**

**Epilogue**

**(District 3)**

The children seem to flood in from the woodwork. The area quickly fills with quaking and scared-to-death children, they saw what happened last year. They just hoped that if they would join Olin they'd do it as painlessly as possible. They crossed their fingers as Cremai stepped onto the stage before them. Penny reached for Nickel's hand, scared to face the next dead children. One girl in the crowd recited a small prayer her mother had recited earlier on.

"And for the girls." Cremai was going to make this as painful as possible for these poor children. She dug around the bowl, plucking names and putting them back before finding one she liked. "Caltha Sremant." She read out. The praying girl's head whipped up to see if this all was real. The brunette girl walked unsteadily to the stage and took her place, shaking like a leaf. She knew she was dead the second her mother closed the door behind her this morning. "And now the boys." Cremai called, happy to see a tear escape the girl. She went to the boys bowl and spent the same agonizingly climactic time there. "Paddie Thomason." She calls out. A boy with jet-black hair and a stone cold face waltzed up and stood on the other side of Cremai. She was quite disappointed not to get a wimp. She forced the two to shake hands before dismissing them. She met up with Penny and Nickel in the building. "I'm quite upset with the tributes this year." She pouted dramatically.

"Are you kidding me? Paddie has a huge chance!" Nickel argued. Penny nodded in agreement.

"Yes but there has to be a big show at the bloodbath." Cremai argued. Penny glared at her in disgust.

"These are human lives we're talking about." She growled. Cremai grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

"I know! Isn't it great?" She chirped.

**(District 10)**

It was a dreary day in the district as Morgan and Bracken took their spots up on the stage. Morgan was quaking in fear, knowing that Calibur was still in the reaping. Ialla did a walk up to the microphone and tapped it, clearing her throat.

"Hello, hello and welcome to the one hundred and first annual hunger games. May the odds be _ever_ in your favor." She grinned a goofy smile, flashing pink teeth with diamonds embedded within them. Her heels clicked noisily as she walked to the female bowl, she plucked the top name and cleared her throat before reading it out loud. "Nini Justice." She called. Bracken froze and his face turned hard, Morgan's quaking got worse. Ialla went over to the male bowl and dug around for a while. Morgan threw a panicked glance at Calibur whose face was flushed of all color. "Tristian Rall." She called into the crowd. Both Morgan and Calibur let out sighs of relief. Nini and Tristian were rushed into the building as Morgan, Bracken and Ialla met inside.

"How exciting?" Ialla said happily.

"Idiotic Capitolite." Morgan whispered.

"What was that?" Ialla asked. Morgan smiled an innocent smile and cocked her head to the side.

"I'm just glad it wasn't Calibur." Bracken mumbled so quietly only Morgan caught it. She gave a small nod as they began to board the train.

**(District 2)**

Echo sat on stage next to Enobaria and Brutus, her hands stuck together as she combed the crowd for winners.

Their escort drew a girl's name but there was an immediate volunteer.

"And what is your name?" The escort asked.

"Iba Nightshade." The girl smirked arrogantly.

"Alright, sis." Echo whispered.

**An: YIPEEEE! DRAMA MAMA!**

**CHARACTER THEME SONGS:**

**Penny – Now you're gone – Basshunter**

**Nickel – come home to me – Justin Beiber**

**Olin – Human – The killers**

**Morgan – Animal I have become – three days grace**

**Bracken – what I've done – Linkin park**

**Echo – Who's laughing now – Jessie J**

**Alder – house of wolves – My chemical romance**

**Inxy – The fame – Lady Gaga**

**Hawkins – The end – My chemical romance**

**Calibur – drops of Jupiter – Train**

**Nini – big girls don't cry – Fergie**

**Cremai – Blood – My chemical romance**

**Janni – I'm here – Ally & A.J.**

**All Tributes – I don't wanna die – UTF**

**Penny and Nickel – Forever – Chris Brown**

**Morgan and Calibur – Fix you – Coldplay**

**Morgan and Bracken – Jumper – Third eye blind**


End file.
